


Video games

by WinterfellStark



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, and silly conversations, but it's mostly fluff, there's swearing and stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-24
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-02-06 01:54:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 45,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1840030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterfellStark/pseuds/WinterfellStark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sansa knew a lot of things about Margaery. For example, she knew that she had recently become obsessed with video games, much to her annoyance. She also knew how Margaery was delighted when her parents bought a summer house in Winterfell, because she loves spending summer breaks with her. She also knew how Margaery spent most of her time in the Starks' place, because why not?  </p>
<p>Other things Sansa thought she knew. Like how it felt like Margaery was into one of her brothers, although she hadn't said a word about it. Sansa could be okay with the video game stuff (it was hard, but she was trying) but... she wasn't  okay with that. She should be happy about it, right? Her best friend and her brother? Why not? But she could not... and she would not. </p>
<p>The reason? Not yet discovered. But Sansa had a whole summer to find out, didn't she?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. It's all for you

“Fuck this shit!” Margaery threw the controller away in exasperation.  

Sansa, who had been reading a book before her friend’s loud yell interrupted her, laughed at Margaery… the one who had been trying to get used to the controls of a video game for the past three hours. Trying being the keyword in that sentence. Apparently, Margaery, who was superb at everything she tried… well, she kind of sucked at gaming. Who knew, right? 

“Seriously, Margs… You’re terrible at that stupid game, stop it already!” Sansa closed her book and stared at her friend.

“The Tyrells don’t give up… and I want to get past this mission!” She said it with determination while she got up to retrieve the flying controller. 

“Giving up is okay when it comes to useless video games, you know?”  

Margaery frowned at her words. “Excuse me! They’re not useless.” 

“Gods, you sound like my brothers!” More annoyed than not, Sansa rolled her eyes and got up from the couch. “This is boring, I’m going back to my room to listen to Lana’s new record… are you coming?” 

“Give me a minute, I’ll try one last time and…” 

Margaery got distracted once she returned to the game not even bothering to finish the sentence, Sansa sighed and left, looking one last time to her friend who was desperately trying to control the guy from the game. She would have laughed at how much she sucked if she hadn’t been kind of pissed off. The thing was… Margaery loved Sansa’s room, or at least she used to. She loved its comfy bed and all the books and the music, so it had been a first hearing the other girl decline. Specially now that they had a new album to listen to. What was that about? 

A few minutes later and once she had settled in her room back to reading her book while the soft music played in the background, she heard Robb and Jon arrive… and a few seconds later she heard Margaery’s voice join theirs. A pang of jealousy shot through her. She hated how Margaery had really been into her brothers lately, how she did things that she knew they’d like, or that they’d admire… like playing stupid video games! Or watch football, she did that too. Oh, Sansa was bitter and she knew it, and in that moment she chose not to fight the feeling. She accepted it and let the jealousy infect her with her terrible feelings. The fact that almost twenty minutes passed before Margaery opened the door to her room didn’t help at all, either. The Tyrell was smiling when she joined her on the bed and Sansa felt like kicking her out.

Margaery started playing with the tips of Sansa’s hair, just like she was used to do when they were there. Except that Sansa wasn’t in the mood for that, so she moved aside pulling her hair up in a messy bun. Margaery kept staring at her, still smiling, and Sansa felt a bit uneasy. 

“So?” Sansa asked, despite of trying not to care. 

“So what?” 

“Are my brothers okay? Sounds like the three of you had fun.” Could she be more obvious? 

“Oh yeah, they’re okay! We talked about Watchdogs for a while, y’know? They gave me tips and stuff. I think tomorrow I might manage to get through the annoying part part that I’m stuck in.” 

“Congratulations, I guess.” She shrugged. “Wait, I have basketball practice tomorrow.” 

“They said they’ll be around, so I thought that I could just wait for you here.” 

Of course. Sansa shook her head in disbelief. Margaery gave her one of those big smiles, oblivious to what she was feeling. She was as charming as ever and she wasn’t in the mood. 

“Do you mind that I come here without you?” On a second thought, maybe she wasn’t as oblivious. 

“Do whatever you want, Margaery.” Sansa felt the coldness invade her. “It’s fine.” 

Margaery arched an eyebrow, but decided not to ask any more questions related to that topic. 

“Okay then, do you want to go grab dinner? I’m starving, hacking places and killing dudes is exhausting!” She smiled, her eyes gleaming. 

“Not today.” Sansa replied, feeling herself detaching from the whole thing. She really wasn’t in the mood. 

“Busy evening?” 

“Yeah, I don’t know. I’m just not hungry.” 

“Suit yourself, Stark. I’ll eat for you.” Margaery got up from the bed and ruffled Sansa’s hair. “See you tomorrow, then.” 

“Yeah. See you.” 

She fixed her hair, annoyed with her Margaery’s gesture, then grabbed her book again. She didn’t even bother looking at her friend one last time. Besides, Margaery probably wouldn’t notice, being too busy getting out of the room to… Yup. She heard Margaery talking to her brothers again and she groaned. Sansa hated jealousy but she missed her friend a lot. She missed the long hours hanging out just talking… no video games involved, or plans that weren’t made wondering if maybe her brothers would be around. She hated it all. She hated the thought of Margaery dating Robb or Jon because then everything would get even worse. Living in the same household would mean no alone time for the two of them, because let’s be real, which boyfriend wouldn’t want to spend time with a girlfriend like Margaery? You’d have to be stupid not to… 

Sansa frowned at her own thoughts and returned her attention to the book. Maybe she would finally be able to get through that chapter… exactly like Margaery wanted to do with that video game mission. Sansa let another frustrated groan and hit the back of her head against the pillow a few times. Like that was going to help. 

Things weren’t looking good for her sanity, no, and she wondered how much time left she had before she couldn’t stand it anymore… Maybe she would just go crazy, that was an option. She could use a bit of craziness to deal with her current state, maybe… But she would wait, Sansa decided, before choosing insanity. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad after all, despite of what her heart told her. 

Just maybe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first attempt at a multi-chapter fic... can't wait to see what comes out of it! :D Also, this is unbetaed... so all mistakes are mine! Please tell me if you find something that really hurts your eyes!


	2. This is my idea of fun

The week started in a nice way. Her dad was finishing making pancakes when she joined her family around the kitchen table, there was a fresh pot of coffee as well and they all had holidays, so the mood was quite joyful. Her mom welcomed Sansa with a smile, a kiss on the cheek and some good news. 

“Arya called this morning. She’s coming back in a week.” 

“Finally! That’s great.” Sansa smiled. 

It had been weird coming back home and not finding her sister around, but Arya hadn’t returned from uni yet. She was enjoying her new independence and wasn’t in a hurry to come back, which was understandable, but Sansa would be lying if she said she wasn’t missing her, with her adorable weirdness and annoying comments that usually made her either cringe or want to give Arya a slap on the back of her neck… all out of love, of course. 

“Guess I’ll have to enjoy the last days of peace around here…” 

They laughed, knowing what she meant. When Arya and Jon were together, things happened. Loud things usually. During their childhood they had chased each other around the house, playing whatever strange game they had created, but now that they were older their relationship with mischief had developed into a more elaborate one, weird and crazy experiments were their favorite pastime now. 

Her dad got her back to reality, pointing at the plate Sansa had in front of her with his own fork. “Eat before they get cold!” 

“Thanks for the pancakes, dad.” She had to get up to give him a quick thank you hug, it was worth it once she saw his smile. 

 

Sansa was relaxing next to the pool that same afternoon, like she had been doing for the past couple of hours, when Margaery stopped by. She couldn’t help it, she had to smile when she saw her friend despite of the turmoil of feelings she had been having. Margaery looked like she had just stepped out of a fashion magazine that was giving tips on how to dress for the summer, she was wearing sandals and a flowery dress, with matching accessories and her hair in perfect curls. Sansa felt underdressed, wearing just her bikini top and a pair of old shorts. 

“Hey, girl!” Margaery waved. 

“Hey yourself.” 

Without asking for permission, Margaery grabbed a towel and set it next to Sansa’s. 

“Wow, you look _so_ stressed.” 

Sansa laughed and looked at her surroundings, her mp3 player, a book and her phone were on the towel around her. “I know, right? Hard life.” 

“I figured I’d come here to save you from boredom.” She grabbed Sansa’s book, read the title and quickly discarded it like she was already tired because of it. “I realize now that I was needed, I should have arrived sooner.” 

“That’s nice of you, Margs.” Sansa gave her a playful push. “Are you sure you did it for me and not for the pool?” 

“Don’t you dare question my motives! I didn’t even bring my bikini.” Margaery Tyrell’s trademark smirk appeared. “Besides… I have my own pool, thank you very much.” 

She was right, definitely right. The Tyrell’s place was almost like a mansion, their flower business in Winterfell bloomed a few years ago and they had decided to get a property there, although most of the time they lived in Highgarden. The place they would get, obviously, couldn’t be something small, it had to be grand, with plenty of space for them and the gardens that they were still working on. Margaery used to joke saying that it needed to fit all her family’s egos. 

“So if it’s not the pool… must be the company, then.” Sansa winked at her friend and laughed, being able to forget all what troubled her momentarily. 

“Ah, isn’t it always?” 

Sansa didn’t know what to reply to that, but apparently her answer wasn’t needed because Margaery closed her eyes and rested her head on the towel, lips curling into a lazy smile. Sansa looked at her for a few moments before forcing herself to turn away, which was harder than she thought it would. Margaery just looked so content there and her hair, all sprawled over her shoulders and the towel… she thought about taking a picture, but decided against it last minute. Better to just remember the moment. 

“You make me want to draw.” Sansa said it softly, without even realizing that she was thinking out loud. 

A few seconds later Margaery opened an eye, like if she had just registered Sansa’s voice. “Hm? Did you say anything?” 

“… Did you just fall asleep?” Sansa looked at her in disbelief. 

“I did not.” 

“Did too!” 

“Did n—” She sighed. She gave up without much of a fight. “Whatever. I haven’t been sleeping much lately.” 

“Is it because it’s too hot? I can’t believe this year's summer in Winterfell.” 

“Guess you could say that.” 

“Way to be cryptic!” Sansa joked but she felt like an explanation was needed… and she got none. 

Instead, she got a change of subject. “Can we go to the basement to play?” 

“Oh no, not again!” Sansa whimpered dramatically. 

“But it’s been a while!” Margaery was almost pouting. 

“I see all the lies now. You said it was the company that made you come here, but it was actually the video games.” 

Margaery laughed with her while she got up. “Come on, winter girl.” 

She might as well accept defeat. Some days, she just couldn’t deny her friend anything… even if it meant that she’d get to spend an hour hearing the other girl swear and get annoyed at her own failures while she looked bored or found something else to do. At least, she thought, they’d be spending time together. Sansa was content with that. The fact was that, with Margaery, she wouldn’t care even if their plans were watching the grass grow. For her, it was definitely the company that made everything worth it. 

 

A few days later as she was watching a nature documentary with Robb about wolves (a family favorite) her phone chimed. It was a text from Margaery. She opened it right away. 

_Guess what I just did!!!!!!_

She was starting to type a reply, wondering what on earth her friend had done, when she got her answer with a picture. It was Margaery hugging the box of what looked like her new gaming console. Robb shot a glance at her, it bothered him when people used their phones when they were watching stuff with him, but Sansa had to reply… she just had to. Something quick. 

_Omg you’re crazy!_ she texted back. 

_NO! I’M AWESOME! THIS IS AWESOME!_

By the way she was texting, and how fast she was, Sansa knew that Margaery must have been suffering an excitement high. She wished she could see her, it was always way fun, specially if she managed to record a video or take pictures so they could watch and laugh later. 

Despite of Robb, she started typing again. _This is the end of summer for you, isn’t it? Soon you won’t remember anything else but your games._

_I’m sorry, who are you again? … BUT REALLY, LOOK AT ALL THE GAMES!_

She got another picture of a stack of five or six games all piled on what Sansa recognized as Margaery’s bed. 

“Oh gods…” Sansa shook her head and laughed, she knew Margaery couldn’t hear or see her, but she hoped she could at least imagine it.

“Everything okay?” Robb asked her, more annoyed than anything else. 

“I think Margaery just went crazy. She bought a PS4.” She handed him her phone with Margaery’s picture on the screen. 

“Woah!” With the documentary momentarily forgotten, he stared dumbfounded at the picture. “I did not see this coming. She doesn’t half-ass things, does she?” 

“That is one sexy combo.” 

Jon had appeared out of nowhere like a damn ninja and was drooling over the picture as well. Sansa snatched back her phone. 

“Tell her that if she needs help with the installation, we can go help. We’ll do it almost for free…” Jon high fived his brother. 

Sansa rolled her eyes, still annoyed with their comments. They sounded like assholes. Horny assholes.

“Do you think she’d go out with me?” Robb poked Sansa on the arm. 

“No.” She growled. 

“See? I told you. She’s into me.” 

“I’m the oldest, it’s my right!” 

“Dude, this isn’t the middle ages… and she’s way out of your league!” 

“Out of my league? Please, Jon… you’re delusional. She fancies me more, haven’t you seen the way she talks to me and puts her hand on my biceps? I’m telling you, she has the hots for me.” 

“She’s never put her hand on your biceps!” Sansa couldn’t stand it anymore. “You’re being disgusting, really. Please, leave my friend alone? Don’t you have enough girls back at uni?” 

“But it’s su—“ 

“Don’t!” Sansa cut Jon off. “Don’t you dare say that it’s summer and you need a distraction or whatever stupid thing you’re planning to say, mom and dad raised you better than this.” 

Jon and Robb exchanged looks and started laughing. Sansa sighed and rolled her eyes, she knew her brothers way too well sometimes. Luckily for her, and her own sanity, they dropped the subject and didn’t mention Margaery anymore, focusing back on the wolves that appeared on the screen. Sansa, relieved, grabbed her phone and texted a quick message. 

_Enjoy the games, crazy person!_

_Will do! Come to my place tomorrow, let me show you the greatness of Margaery Tyrell’s new PS4. And tell your brothers to come if they want!_

That last sentence. Why? Why did it make her feel so jealous? After all, wasn’t Margaery inviting her first? Sansa locked her phone and didn’t bother to reply, she’d do it later… 

 

Later that night, she tossed and turned on her bed. She didn’t know what was worse, the heat wave or the thoughts in her head. Suddenly, she wondered if Margaery’s head was troubled as well and if that was the reason she couldn’t sleep at night. Maybe she couldn’t choose between Robb and Jon… would it be like that? She hadn’t discussed it with Margaery because it felt really awkward, but she clearly liked them, right? She sighed. 

“I can’t wait for this week to be over.” Sansa whispered it to the emptiness of her room. There was nothing but silence as an answer, but it was one that pleased her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to a certain monkey for helping with the chapter, I don't know what I'd do without her sometimes!


	3. All I think of

“Eddard Stark!” 

Robb, Jon and Sansa were sprawled on the couch enjoying the air conditioning and their favourite zombies movie, _The White Walkers_ , when they heard their mother’s loud yell. The siblings knew instantly that trouble was coming. 

“What has father done now?” Jon whispered to them. 

“Mom’s in the basement. She probably found the new home cinema.” 

“He didn’t ask her?!” 

“Oh gods. I think it’s time to run!” 

Robb got up and Sansa, then Jon, followed quickly. If her mom was onto her dad, then sooner or later she’d try to find them to get answers to incriminate him even more, something she wasn’t looking forward to. Sansa looked at her phone realizing that it was almost the time she said she’d go to Margaery’s house that morning. Perfect timing! She didn’t know what her brothers were going to do but it was every man for himself. She grabbed her bag and ran to the door. 

“I’m visiting the Tyrell’s, I’ll be back later!” 

She left in a hurry without waiting for an answer from any family members. She did it feeling kind of guilty too, for leaving like that and for not having invited either of her brothers to go with her. She hadn’t mentioned anything because she could still feel that pang of jealousy over her friend’s last text the other night… Was it normal, to feel like that? She didn’t know anymore, but she didn’t care either. It was like driving at night without the headlights on, it sounded dangerous and it probably was, but once you had reached that point, you just couldn’t go back… Also, yes, Sansa realized that the metaphor didn’t work as well as she initially thought because you could turn on the headlights whenever you wanted. Damn. No matter what, at least she had an excuse ready for her friend in case she asked: she had to leave before her mom found her. Yeah, it’d be okay. She’d be okay. 

She was tempted to grab Jon’s old bicycle but decided against it. It was warm and she didn’t want to meet the Tyrells covered in sweat, they always looked so classy. She shouldn’t walk either… so in the end she just took the car she shared with her mom when she was home for the holidays. It was a six minutes drive in normal conditions (Margaery had timed it a while ago) which gave her just enough time to go through different scenarios of Margaery’s reaction after finding out that her brothers weren’t coming with her. Would she be disappointed? Sad? Maybe she would ask Sansa to leave so they could reschedule to a day where the three of us could visit… but no, that was improbable. Margaery would look for other things to do, right? Although she had wanted to show her PS4 to her brothers, that didn’t mean they couldn’t do things together? Gods, Sansa was going crazy. It was her friend she was thinking about! She would never kick her out of her place just because their plans had changed. 

Not once did it occur to Sansa that maybe Margaery wouldn’t care at all. 

Then, after all that imagining and kind-of-worrying… nothing happened. Sansa couldn’t understand a thing. She told her and Margaery just replied with an “Ah, it’s fine!” before she dragged Sansa along to the living room. There, she made Sansa stare at the black box that was the PS4 as she gushed over what it could do, the amazing games she had and would have eventually, and how 24 hours a day weren’t enough for all the things that she wanted to do (which included Sansa, by the way).

She was looking at her friend the same way she’d be looking at a dragon, like it was just weird. But the truth was that Margaery looked _so_ happy, she could see it in her eyes and her big smile while she explained stuff and even in the way she expressed herself. At least there was a good side to the whole gamer phase she was going through. Suddenly, Sansa realized that Margaery had stopped talking. 

“… are you even listening to me?” 

“Uhm, yeah… sure.” Sansa realized she was blushing, her credibility plummeting. “Okay, maybe not?” 

Instead of being annoyed at her, Margaery laughed softly. “Come on, let’s do something else… I don’t want to bore you to death!” 

“I’m sorry, I just… I mean, it’s really pretty and stuff. I’m glad you’re happy with it.” She sucked at apologies, Sansa realized. “Really.” 

Sometimes, Margaery would smile in a way that felt so true, so heartfelt… not that the other times weren’t, but there were some special ones that just made Sansa get all warm inside, and as Margaery was telling her that it was fine, that they could just go and hang out in her room, Sansa was feeling it again. 

She knew the Tyrell’s place like the back of her hand and she lead the way happily. They had spent countless days back and forth between their houses during school breaks, she even spent whole days there whenever Margaery’s parents were away. Although she loved it there because it was a nice house, way nicer than her family’s, it lacked of the lived-in quality that she had come to enjoy after sharing a house with five people for most of her life. Everything was perfect in Margaery’s house, there was nothing out of place. 

Margaery’s room was in the first floor, the second door to the left. There, Sansa sat on her friend’s bed with her back to the wall. After turning on her iPod, Margaery laid down next to her. Music filled the room as she stared at Sansa, as if she was studying her. 

“You look weird upside down.” 

“Why, thank you Marg.” Sansa rolled her eyes. “You sure know how to make a girl feel special.” 

“Idiot. You look perfect from every angle.” 

Margaery smiled and stretched on the bed, when she was done she let her arms rest on Sansa’s legs, who started running her fingers softly along her forearms while her thoughts went somewhere else, to a good place. She kept doing that absentmindedly until she was pulled out of her thoughts by Margaery’s sigh.

“This is the life, Sansa. You, me, a place like this, music and… video games. ” 

Sansa snorted, of course she’d mention those. “I could do without the video games.” 

“You say that now, but one day you’ll join the dark side.” She winked. 

“Don’t hold your breath, Tyrell. My brothers have tried before.” Sansa smiled, she felt so at ease. 

“I’m not like them. I can be quite persuasive.” 

She knew. Oh, she knew. 

“Let’s change video games for lemon cakes and you have me on board with that fantasy of yours.” 

“I’ll never get your obsession with lemon cakes.” 

“I’ll never get your obsession with video games.” 

Margaery rolled her eyes, but she let Sansa have that one. 

 

That night, Robb brought pizzas for dinner and the five Starks (just one more day until Arya was back!) were reunited around the table. Having dinner at their home was one of Sansa’s favorite things because if they were home then they always, and always meant no exceptions, did it together as a family. TV was not allowed during dinner because what mattered was the conversation between them, there’d be time to watch things on tv later. Dinners with her family was one of the things that Sansa missed the most back at uni. 

The conversation was casual that evening, they had been discussing the weather (really, what a strange summer!) and random news until finally Jon remembered where Sansa had been that evening, then he got excited. 

“Hey, Sansa, how was the PS4?” He asked before taking a bite from his pizza. 

“Uhm…” Sansa shrugged, she wasn’t in the mood for that talk. “I don’t know, it was just a PS4?” 

“Oh, come on!” Robb joined the conversation and shook his head. “Does that mean you didn’t even play?” 

“Nope.” 

“Damn!” Jon looked surprised by her answer. “I thought she would have convinced you to try it, at least once.”. 

“That’s what she said!” 

As usual, the only person that laughed at Robb’s joke was Jon, from the others he just got disapproving looks. Specially from her mom. 

“Ned, if our son keeps making _that’s what she said jokes_ I think I’m going to disinherit him.” 

“Fine by me, Cat. Fine by me.” 

After that, Sansa let the others talk while she ate in silence, thinking about how it was like being back in high school, she felt like going to Twitter to post obscure things that no one but her would understand, maybe some of her friends would even wonder what was going on with her, but certainly not the ones that mattered. She just didn’t get anything anymore, her mood had been steadily dropping since she got home for dinner but nothing bad had happened, there had been nothing out of the ordinary either… She just had been getting more and more annoyed at everything with each passing minute, even looking at her brothers and her parents, smiling and joking, even that bothered her. Realizing it made Sansa get angrier at herself because, really… was the hell was that about? Her family was happy… why was that a problem? Ultimately, that question raised a bigger and more important one… why wasn’t she happy? 

Her phone vibrated on her pocket, distracting her from the somber thoughts. Without really caring about the fact that they were still eating, she looked at the screen. 

_If I learn how to make lemon cakes, will you play video games with me? ;)_


	4. Keep making me laugh

“It’s an important question, Sansa. You should think about it.” 

Margaery’s playful tone was apparent even through the telephone. Sansa smiled and rolled her eyes, wishing the other girl could see her. 

“I promise I will.” She used her most _serious_ tone. 

“Please do. A good location is key part of surviving a zombie apocalypse.” 

Sansa held her phone with her shoulder, using her free hands to open the curtains and check for movement. 

“Is Arya back yet?” 

“I was just checking… they’re not here yet.” 

A few minutes and a conversation about zombies later, Sansa heard a car. 

“She’s here!”

“I’ll call you later, say hi to Arya!” 

Sansa hung up and dropped her phone on the couch, running towards the front of the house, where she was greeted by a yell. 

“Big sis!” 

Arya threw herself at Sansa’s arms without giving her time to react. They stumbled backwards and almost fell to the ground, but soon Arya started laughing and Sansa had to join her. Some things never changed and for that Sansa was glad… although that feeling had started just recently. For most of their life they didn’t get along, but at last that had changed… apparently both girls reached common ground after their teenage years. Then, Sansa had started of remembering their childhood together with fondness, something she hadn’t been able to do while it was happening. They used to fight like crazy, Arya thought Sansa was the most boring person in the world and too girly for her taste, while Sansa said that her little sister needed to be tamed because she was like a wildling. But now Arya was back from her first year in uni and Sansa couldn’t wait to spend some quality time with her, she had missed her little sister. 

“How are you, Arya?” Sansa ruffled her sister’s too-short-for-her-taste hair. “You’ve changed it again?” 

“It was getting too long.” 

“I don’t believe there’s such thing as too long when it comes to your hair…” 

“Is that a challenge?” 

She hugged Arya again and both girls joined the rest of the family on the couch. The next hour was spent with Arya telling them all about how nice it was being at uni, meeting new people and learning all the things she had always wanted to learn (plus a many other things she really, _really_ , didn’t care about). She had started Computer Science because she had always been into “that kind of thing” like Sansa would say. It looked like she had chosen well. 

During some parts of the conversation Sansa’s mind would drift away, she couldn’t help but wonder if Margaery would enjoy that conversation, was she just into gaming or was something more general, like it was for Arya? Sometimes she thought that Margaery was studying Political Science just because her family expected it, maybe she’d be happier in something more… nerdy? Then again, Margaery didn’t look unhappy with her life, so maybe Sansa was overthinking. Also, maybe she was being completely ignorant by thinking that just because her friend liked video games, she’d like computer stuff. 

Gods, she had to force herself to stop thinking about Margaery all the time. It was starting to be a problem. 

“And by the way, I brought you all mugs from uni. One more to add to the collection!” Arya smiled proudly and Sansa cheered with her brothers. It was a tradition Robb had started on his first year, then the others followed.

“I can’t believe our little girl’s finished her first year already!” Her mother gave Arya a big hug.

“Please, don’t start with the whole “ _but it looks like she was born yesterday!_ ” speech!” Despite of the apparent complaints, Arya hugged her mom and reached for her dad at the same time. “I love you all!” 

“Don’t move!” Sansa snapped a quick picture with her phone. “Aww, you look adorable.” 

“Come on! Post it on Facebook and Instagram!” Robb laughed. “Her bad girl reputation, ruined only five minutes after she’s back home.” 

“Hey, no tagging!” Arya complained, but kept hugging them. 

Her sister was back. It could be a good summer. Everything could get fixed, Sansa would try as hard as she could… because she had all the elements needed to be happy, so… yes. Everything was going to be okay. 

Maybe, if she said it enough times, she’d end up believing it herself? 

 

_Throwing a kind-of-party tomorrow evening to celebrate that Loras is back. All Stark kids invited! We can celebrate Arya’s return too :)_

It was the middle of the afternoon when she got Margaery’s text. Sansa looked at Arya and Jon, who were in the basement with her, sitting on the couch in front of the TV because they had been playing video games, for a change. 

“Guys, do you have plans for tomorrow evening?” 

“Nope, I don’t think so.” Jon paused the game to look at his sister. “Got anything for us?” 

“Margaery just texted me, they’re throwing a party and we’re all invited. Loras is back.” She shrugged. “Do you want to come?” 

“Hell yeah!” Arya clapped her hands. “First party of the holidays and at the Tyrell’s, no less!” 

They had a reputation, the Tyrell’s. They always went overboard with their parties, probably because they were filthy rich and they could, they had the best food you could find and alcohol too, if you were into that… kids their age loved to get invited to one of their parties. She thought that maybe it was exactly what she needed, a party to make her go back to normal. 

Once the conversation was over, Jon started playing again, cursing after getting the hacker killed in the middle of a car chase. After a few more attempts, a visibly annoyed Arya stole the controller from her brother’s hands, letting out an exasperated sigh. Then she proceeded to finish that mission flawlessly. Sansa, even not really caring about it, was amazed. Jon, who did care, was petrified. 

“There.” She threw the controller back to him. “ _That’s_ how you do it.” 

Jon, regaining mobility, exchanged surprised looks with Sansa, who just shrugged and laughed. Arya was smiling smugly, they were quite a competitive bunch, the Starks. 

Margaery’s customized ringtone sounded in the room, interrupting the moment. 

“Hey, you!” 

“Did you get my text?” Margaery sounded happy. “Are you coming?” 

“Of course! Arya and Jon are coming too, we’ll ask Robb when he comes back later. But we have no doubt he’ll join us.” 

“Great news! Anyway, are you home?” 

“Yes, I am.” 

“Perfect. Then go to the door.” 

The call ended and Sansa snorted. To arrive unannounced was so typical of Margaery! (but never unwanted, according to the other girl). Sansa did as commanded, though, she got up from the couch and climbed the stairs, but before she reached the top she heard her friend’s voice. 

“Good afternoon, Lord Stark.” 

Her father laughed. “Margaery, how many times do I have to tell you…?” 

“But you said nothing about calling you Lord!” Margaery was smiling in that charming way and when saw Sansa, she winked at her before turning to her father again. “If I recall correctly, you forbid me to use Mister and Sir, never ever mentioning Lord.” 

Ned shook his head, visibly amused by the whole exchanged. “I’ll leave you girls to your things…” 

“Okay, dad.” 

Before he disappeared into his room he added “And Margaery, no calling me Lord either! Just Ned, remember. Just Ned.” 

“Hey girl.” Margaery, still smiling from her exchange with her father, linked her arm with Sansa’s. “What were you doing, by the way? What have I interrupted?” 

“Downstairs… talking mostly, but they’re playing video games.” Sansa felt like she was blushing. Was she? Gods, why? “You know, the sort of thing you’d love.” 

She guided Margaery to the basement. 

“Ah, so am I allowed to join the Merry Stark Kids?” 

“Well, you’re making it sound like we’re some sort of weird secret society or a cult.” 

“Wait, you’re not? Damn, that’s disappointing.” 

The basement was the usual hang out place for the Stark kids, as Margaery had put it. They had their books, games, gadgets… all in one place. She had spent countless hours down there with them, it didn’t matter if they weren’t doing anything together, it was just nice to be all in one place. There was a time where Sansa disliked the basement, though, and that was when Theon and Joffrey had been around… but she didn’t want to bring up those memories. Besides, Margaery was nothing like those two… and all of her siblings liked her. Some more than others. 

“Hey, Tyrell!” Jon nodded towards her, his hands busy with the controller. 

“Hey yourself.” Margaery went straight to Arya. “Well, well, look who’s back!” 

They hugged briefly and exchanged the usual courtesies. Then, awkward greetings aside, they sat. Margaery chose the spot next to Sansa on the couch, she sat so close to her that she could lay her arm on Sansa’s leg without stretching at all. Suddenly Sansa felt very aware of the little distance between them. Act naturally, she ordered herself. 

“Sansa tells me you’re quite a gamer, tell me more Margs!” 

“Oh, she’s crazy if she’s calling me a gamer. I’m just an aficionado.” She waved dismissively. “Honestly, I suck at it. But seven gods, it’s so much fun!” 

“She does, she does suck a lot.” Sansa whispered, pretending to be subtle about it. 

“Hey!” Margaery slapped her leg.

“Ouch! Uncalled for!” 

Sansa laughed and stared at the other girl, who was looking at her, smiling with that stupid smile that made Sansa melt inside. No, she wasn't going to think about that. Nope. 

“We should play together.” Arya ignored them and just went back to her topic. “The only way you’re going to get better is by practicing, so… we can help with that.” 

Sansa got annoyed when Margaery’s attention left her to focus on her sister. 

“I can show you a few tricks. Don’t listen to Jon or Robb, they suck.” 

“But they’re awesome!” Margaery was alarmed. 

“Gee, thanks!” Jon smiled, pleased with her reaction. Probably a boost of self confidence. 

“If you think they’re awesome, just wait. I mean, I’m not bragging or anything-“ 

Jon arched an eyebrow. “You totally are.” 

Sansa muffled a laugh with her hand. 

“I’m _not_ bragging,” Arya glared at them before turning to Margaery again, “I’m just saying... In some games, I’m better than them.” 

They kept talking and joking, being downright silly, then taking turns to play (not Sansa, never Sansa… by principle). They laughed with Margaery whenever it was her turn because she was a total mess most of the time. Then, out of nowhere, she would do something brilliant and they would all be in awe… until the next mess. Then they would just laugh again. It was perfection in a basement. 

Whenever Margaery wasn’t playing, Sansa and her would talk about their next semester. They had decided to share a flat instead of living in dorms like they had been doing for the past few years, Margaery had and both of them had been looking at small flats, but most of them looked terrible even in the ads (which meant that they’d be way worse in real life). Margaery had mentioned a few times that her parents could and would pay for the flat, but Sansa had refused every time. If they were going to share a flat, they’d share everything. It was a discussion they were still having, and Sansa thought that she just said it over and over again because she liked to see Sansa fight for something. 

Eventually, Margaery had to leave. With Loras home, she wanted to spend some time with him too. She told them that she’d see all four of them at the party the next day, then and let herself out. 

“I love that she’s come to Winterfell this summer.” Sansa lay on the couch and smiled.

“Yeah, no, I can see that. You two are like… inseparable.” 

“I really needed someone like her in my life.” 

Sansa shrugged, knowing that it was one of the truest statements she could ever say. Ever since the day they met, not long after Sansa had arrived to uni feeling like a lost puppy and Margaery, bless her, who was already in her third year, took her under her wing, Sansa’s low moments had been not as bad while her highs were even higher when she could share them with Margaery. 

“She just makes me happy.”


	5. Honey, is that true?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are happening! The party at the Tyrell's so who knows what the night might bring?

Sansa spent the few hours before the Tyrell’s party hiding in her room, since Arya and Jon were experimenting with the sound system down in the basement. It wasn’t pleasant despite their excitement. She used that time to read, listen to music and look for apartments. She bookmarked a few of them that she wanted to show to Margaery. Sansa kind of fell in love with one, the flat had plenty of light and high ceilings, old but not in bad condition, and it had been decorated with great taste; it was close to public transport too, a must since they weren’t looking for flats in the city center. Honestly, if she had been able to, she would have called right away. Instead, she sent a quick email to Margaery before closing her laptop. 

_Here are a few apartments I liked. Check the 1st one! I loooove it and I think you will too!_

She bit her lip before pressing send, wondering what would Maragery think of it. Sansa always worried too much when showing the things she liked to the people whose opinion mattered to her. She felt that maybe they would judge her for the choices she was making… and while she knew Margaery and how she would never do that, not for real at least, it still worried Sansa. A lot. Even though the apartment was kind of perfect. Even though she was sure that Margaery would love the style. Damn insecurities. 

A knock on her door. Robb quickly appeared on the other side, smiling. 

“Hey! Come downstairs, we’re gonna bake our infamous cookies for the party.” 

And just like that, all her worries disappeared. 

 

Everything had started like a normal party at the Tyrell’s. When they got to the enormous house not many guests had arrived, and yet Sansa complained about them being late. She had wanted to arrive way before so she could help them with the organization, it was the polite thing to do she told her siblings, even if the Tyrell’s had hired people to do that. Sansa also knew how busy things could and would get later, so maybe it would be her only way to make sure she got to spend quality time with her friend. According to Margaery, Loras had gone way overboard with the guest list, inviting friends from uni, from school, people they hadn’t seen or heard from in ages… basically, the whole contact list. If they were close to Winterfell, it was fine by him. It was going to be interesting, to say the least. 

Later on when the party was in full swing, Sansa started to feel pretty much miserable. She had developed an allergy to other people’s happiness, apparently. Worse than that was the fact that she kept blaming herself for the things she was feeling. And thinking that it was her fault meant that maybe she could change it, maybe she could make herself feel better… yet, in that moment, she didn’t want to feel any different. She enjoyed her misery in a very masochistic way. It was very annoying. 

Sansa looked at her watch, it was almost midnight and Margaery was nowhere to be found. Like she had predicted, her friend had been quite busy since the party started. Being a hostess was hard work, Sansa knew from the parties that their parents threw from time to time. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a bit bitter about it… she had expected to see more of Margaery that night, instead she was either all by herself, surrounded by random strangers who tried to make small talk with her, or with one of her siblings. The last time she checked, Arya was playing beer pong with Loras and Jon was flirting with a redheaded girl. Who knew were Robb was? She saw him talking with Theon, so they were probably drinking everything in sight, that’s what Theon did anyway. She hoped Robb was smarter than that. 

At one point, Margaery ran past her looking for… ice? Was she mumbling things about ice? The second she saw Sansa she stopped on her tracks, giving her a delighted smile. Two wide steps later, she was hugging her. 

“Thank you for coming…” She whispered it so close to her ear that Sansa could feel her breath. 

She shivered while Margaery kept her embrace. “I love it here, you know that.” 

When Margaery finally let go, Sansa tried to ignore the sadness her body felt. 

“And I love that you love it here.” 

“My, my… Are you drunk?” 

“That’d be highly inappropriate, Sansa.” 

“You’re using your fancy tone. You _are_!” 

“Am not.” She winked at her. “But I really have to run because my brother is quite useless sometimes… It’s his party, so I shouldn’t complain. Still, I need to get ice.” 

Ah, so it was ice. _I miss you_ , Sansa thought, not being able to really say it out loud, not being able to stop herself from thinking it either. 

“By the way!” Margaery turned when she was in the middle of leaving. “Don’t let Loras set you up with neither of our cousins. They’re the worst kind of Tyrell. I mean it, they’re family but… ew, gross.”

After that short exchange Sansa had casual conversations with a few other guests, while trying to ignore the glances that one of Margaery’s cousins was shooting at her. She went back to cheer for Arya (who eventually lost against Loras) but after a while she felt the need to leave the house. Thankfully the Tyrell’s had a huge garden where she could hide for a bit. Was the air in the house impossibly thick, or was it just her? 

She had been staring at the plants and flowers for a few minutes when Arya arrived, joining her on the bench. She enjoyed the way their shadows moved with the breeze, and how the music sounded in the distance. It was quite relaxing… For a while, neither of them said a word, but eventually Arya broke the silence, like Sansa had predicted in her mind. 

“So where’s Margaery?” 

Sansa sighed. Of all the questions she could ask… “I don’t know, who cares?” 

Arya let out a snigger. “You’re a terrible liar, because clearly you do.” 

“And you’re annoying.” 

“What’s the matter? Does it bother you that Robb is going to ask her out?” 

“No.” Sansa replied before even understanding what she heard. “Wait, say that again?” 

“Oh, you didn’t know?” Arya made her best “fake surprise” face. She was enjoying it. 

“But… when is he doing that?” She hoped Arya didn’t notice the alarm in her voice. Then, her voice turned into a whisper. “Did he do it already?” 

_Did she say yes?_ That question, she didn’t ask. Oh gods. Sansa was freaking out internally. She had expected something like that happening at some point, but it was too soon. Way too soon. Also, how did she just found about it?! Their house was supposed to have zero privacy when it came to that! Sooner or later, one of them talked! How had Robb managed to hide the fact that he was going to ask her out? 

“Oh wow, your face! Man, I wish I had recorded it…” Arya started laughing. “I’m kidding, Sansa, chill!” 

“Arya!” Sansa stared at her sister in disbelief, debating wether to kiss her or murder her. Both options were viable. 

“They said you’ve been acting all weird and stuff about it and I didn’t believe them at first… now I think I do.” 

“You’re the worst.” Sansa couldn’t help but laugh, relieved. “Also, it’s not like you deserve an explanation, but they were being rude. She’s my friend and she deserves better than crass comments.” 

“Sure she does, sure she does…” 

Arya leaned back on the bench and Sansa focused back on the garden, enjoying the silence again… knowing that it would’t last long. It never did when Arya was around… and a moment later, she was proved to be right once again. 

“So, do you like anyone?” 

“Nope. Do _you_?” She shot back at her sister. Sansa really hated that question. 

“You should get over what happened with Joffrey.” 

Sansa felt her body stiffen. “I’m over that. I’m just not interested in anyone else, why is it so hard to understand? Gods.” 

“It’s not, I was just wondering.” 

She let an exasperated moan. “I hate when people bring him up!” 

“Put your claws away!” Arya let out another snigger, too many that night. Then, she nodded back at the house. “Loras mentioned his cousins.” 

“And Margaery warned me against them, not interested.” 

“I don’t know. Maybe Loras is a better judge of character than Margaery is. Maybe he knows them better.” 

Ah, the conversation was getting better and better. Sansa glared at Arya. “I said I’m not interested.” 

Arya hummed, but didn’t push the issue further. Wondering if it was wrong to wish that your little sister left you alone, Sansa stared at her own shoes. Suddenly they were the most interesting around. It was a good thing that they were having breaks during the conversation because it gave her time to recover and recharge, getting ready for the next round. 

“I think I finally figured out what’s bothering you and I’ve been here less than two days, I’m so awesome. I deserve some kind of award.” 

“Care to enlighten me?” Sansa felt exhausted with the conversation already. 

“I think… Yeah, I think it bothers you that she might be kissing Robb.” 

“That’s stupid, Arya. It’d be weird, I’ll give you that, but it wouldn’t bother m—” 

“Hey, I’m not done, big sis.” Arya smiled, pleased with herself. “I think it bothers you because _you_ want to be the one doing all the kissing when it comes to Margaery.” 

“Okay,” Sansa let out a small laugh, “that’s crazy _and_ stupid.” 

“Oh, no no no. Hear me out, it makes all the sense in the world!” 

Sansa tried to argue but it was too late. Arya, in a “mad scientist" kind of excitement, started to number all the different reasons why it made so much sense. The fact that Sansa had a crush on her gorgeous best friend, Arya’s words not Sansa’s, connected all the dots. She named a few of the reasons, which included her obvious and flaring jealousy towards her brothers’ advances, imaginary advances for that matter, (they were just boys who appreciated the company and attention of a pretty girl) and how her face lit with happiness whenever she talked about or with Margaery; how whenever she was around they were practically touching all the time, like they were attached by the hip or something … and she did all that while Sansa stared at her, completely stunned.

When Arya ended her explanation, she took a sip from her beer bottle and gave her sister a huge grin. “And you know what it means, too?” 

“You mean besides implying that I’m kind of gay?” Sansa didn’t understand how she managed to find words after all she had just heard.

“Duh, that’s a given.” Arya rolled her eyes. “It means that, by the looks of it, she’s probably into you as well.” 

Sansa frowned at that comment. Saying that she liked Margaery was one thing, saying that Margaery liked her back was another. I was weird and it made her feel uneasy. 

“You’re wrong. She likes Robb. Or Jon. I’m not sure.” She fidgeted with her fingers. 

“Have you ever asked her?” 

“… No.” 

“Why? If it was one of my friends, I would have found out already!” When Sansa shrugged Arya smiled. “Is it because you don’t want to know for sure? In case it’s true that she likes one of them?” 

“Look, Arya… go psychoanalyze someone else.” Sansa wanted to be angry at her sister, she wanted her to shut up and go away… except she didn’t, really. 

“Hey, the sooner you accept it, the sooner you’ll be back to your naïve happiness.” Arya shrugged and then gave her a tiny smile. “Also, you know what? It’s funny how of all the things I’ve said, you’ve only denied the fact that Margs’ into you too, did you realize?” 

Sansa hadn’t. 

“She’s pretty cool, and not really a snob coming from such a rich family. Also, she’s funny and fucking hot… you could do way worse than her! I mean, no offense, you _have_ done worse than her. And you know mom and dad would be cool with it.” 

“Stop talking, please?” Sansa pleaded. Arya obeyed, for once. 

There had been many things she had expected from that night, having her sister saying all those things, things that Sansa tried to but couldn’t deny… that wasn’t one of those. She turned away from Arya. She just couldn’t look at her in the eye because she’d want to cry and it’d be embarrassing. It was just… it was painful. Painful and true. There was no other way to put it, everything Arya said was spot on. She had never, ever, considered it like that… but it… it had been there. It had always been there, all the time. She felt so stupid… But of course! Of course she hated all the attention Robb got, it was attention she wanted for herself! She wanted the flirting, the touches, she wanted longing looks and dumb smiles… she wanted it all. And the kisses. Oh, the kisses! When the thought of kissing Margaery came to her mind she almost shivered. Yes, she definitely wanted the kissing too. Damn. She didn’t realize she had started crying until one tear tickled her cheek. She half chuckled and half whimpered when she wiped it away. On top of that, Arya was talking about it like it was so normal. Was it normal? To fall for your best friend? 

“How?” Sansa managed not to sound as broken as she felt. “How is it even possible to feel something and not realizing you were feeling it until someone else throws it on your face? And by the way, thanks a lot Arya.”

Sansa hid her head in her hands and started taking deep breaths. She felt Arya’s arm on her shoulders, trying to reassure her… So stupid, she was so stupid. 

“Hey, don’t be like that…” Arya patted her back in the most awkward way. “Honestly, I didn’t think I’d hit the target.” 

Sansa let out a laugh that came out in a strange way. “Really, that’s what you’re focusing on right now?!” 

“Well, duh. It’s not every day that my crazy theories where my sister is gay without even realizing it are right!” Arya hugged her tighter. “It’s going to be okay, Sansa.” 

In that particular moment she didn’t believe that, she didn’t believe it at all… how could everything be okay? But she didn’t say anything not wanting to sound too pessimistic, she owed that to Arya… and maybe the whole “fake it ‘till you make it” worked, who knew? She could try. 

“Come on, let’s get out of here.” 

Arya got up and held out her hand. Sansa grabbed it and both girls started to walk towards the house. She could hear the music and all the chatter coming from the guests getting louder. She couldn’t help but wonder where Margaery was in that moment and suddenly it was like her whole body hurt. Specially her heart. It sounded so idiotic, Sansa thought, but it really felt like her heart was aching. So books and songs were right after all.

She wished for two different things, in that moment. She wanted to see Margaery before leaving… she needed to prove herself that those feelings were real, that maybe by looking at Margaery she’d know… and it was exactly because of it that she also dreaded the moment she saw her again. Hiding sounded like a good option, hiding from Margaery and hiding from her feelings. Destiny, however, had a different opinion on the matter. 

“Hey, are you leaving already?” 

Oh no. Both girls turned to face Margaery. 

“Hey, Marg.” Sansa bit the inside of her cheek. She was there. She was there. She tried to find more words. Sentences. She needed to form sentences but she just couldn’t find any. Where did they all go? She was going to panic. 

“I’m feeling kind of tired, so she offered to drive me home.” Arya lied and Sansa felt relieved. She made a mental note, _hug Arya later_.

“N’aw. I’d try to coerce you to stay, but this is crazy and I wouldn’t get to enjoy your company at all.” Margaery gave them an apologetically smile. “Go get some rest, I’ll see you soon.” 

“Thanks for the party, by the way, it’s really awesome. Oh and you still have to let me play with your PS4!” 

“Anytime!” 

“Tell Loras that next time, I’ll kick his ass.” 

Margaery laughed and then turned to Sansa, her laugh turned into _that_ smile and she knew. She knew instantly that everything Arya said was right. To make things worse for her poor heart, Margaery leaned closer and kissed her cheek before whispering, “Drive safe.” 

And with that, she left to become the social butterfly she needed to be that night. Sansa stood still for a few seconds, too focused on the way Margaery’s lips had pressed against her cheek… how good it was. She sighed. She could lie to herself, she could say that her body didn’t react to her, but what for? Maybe she could try and… accept it. But not yet, she told herself, she still had a lot of freaking out to do. 

“Thanks for that, Arya.” Sansa smiled weakly, hoping she sounded as truthful as she wanted it to. 

Arya shook her head, a bit amused. “Oh girl, you’ve got it bad.” 

“Shut up.” 

Sansa ignored her sister’s laugh and started to walk towards the car, immersed in her own thoughts. Why did it had to be Margaery? If it had to be a girl, why her? There were so many other girls… But the moment she asked that to herself, Sansa knew the answer. She had always known it, after all. 

_Because she’s my kind of perfect…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time to face some things, Stark! Also, just so you know... Sansa isn't going to get gay!panic or anything like that. I don't want it to matter, so even if she does panic at some point, it'll be for other things, and not because Margaery is a girl. 
> 
> PS. It's late, I'm tired and this has probably mistakes that I can't see and I didn't want to make... so I apologize for that! I'll check again tomorrow! :) 
> 
> By the way... thanks for reading, y'all! (I'm channeling my inner Tami Taylor)


	6. It's you, it's you...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa tries to deal with her issues but she might not be thinking straight (pun intended!)

When she woke up there were a few moments in which Sansa didn’t remember anything, she just existed in a blissful haze… but the spell broke and slowly the fog in Sansa’s mind started to disappear, leaving all the events from the previous night to come back to her. Suddenly, the realization weighed heavily upon her. A groan escaped from her mouth. Why wasn’t life easier? She rubbed her eyes and yawned, it was still early considering the time she went to bed after the party, but once she was awake, she was awake. No matter what, Sansa had to force herself to get out of bed. 

While dragging her feet on her way to the kitchen she thought about how the whole “I like Margaery” situation was no as bad as it could have been, she didn’t really care that she had a crush on a girl, because really… did it matter in the end? It was the fact that the girl in question was Margaery. Her best friend Margaery. That was the thing Sansa cared about. It could have been way worse if she had been flipping out because she was kind-of-gay (what was she, by the way? ugh, labels). It mattered that it was Margaery because she was the girl who was going to share an apartment with Sansa next year. Oh gods. Sansa whimpered and hid her face between her arms, waiting for her toast to be ready. How was she going to survive next year? She didn’t know if she’d be able to face Margaery ever again… what if the other girl could read her mind? It could happen! Maybe her friend was going to be the next Jean Grey or something. That’s how mutations worked, right? They happened all of a sudden. She had read that in a comic book. 

She was nervous while having breakfast, even though she was still alone in the kitchen. She couldn’t stop thinking about facing Arya. Her sister was presumably still sleeping, but she she felt awkward nevertheless. She wasn’t exactly ready for whatever exchange they’d have. She wasn’t ready for anything, for that matter. _Way to be dramatic_ , she thought. 

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Her mother entered the kitchen and kissed the top of her head while Sansa munched on her toast. “How was the party?” 

“It was nice as usual, spectacular and all that.” She shrugged. “Lots of people.” 

Her mother gave her conversation while she made coffee and got something to eat. Sansa kept trying to answer as casually as possible. She thought she was doing a good job, considering. She was good hiding her feelings, many years of practice… She could try that with Margaery, right? Yeah. Definitely. Except… except that plan had a pretty obvious flaw, which was the fact that Margaery could see right through Sansa’s lies ever since the moment they met. She had tried to hide some things in the past, she gave Margaery big smiles when she was feeling down but she never managed to convince the other girl. Not once.

“Sansa?” 

She snapped back to reality. Her mother was looking at her curiously. 

“Sorry, mom. I’m still sleepy…” Good excuse, she told herself. 

“There’s more coffee in the pot. Do you want some?”

Sansa shook her head, she was content with her orange juice. “Maybe later?” 

“Go take a swim. It works wonders for headaches if you’re… you know, _tired_. After a party.” Her mother smiled in a knowing way. 

“Oh gods.” Sansa felt embarrassed. “Mother, I’m not hangover, if that’s what you’re implying.” 

“Well, that’s even better! Then you can just go to the pool to enjoy the good weather.” Catelyn laughed along with her daughter. 

After breakfast Sansa grabbed one of the books from her “currently reading” pile and a towel. Taking her mother’s advice, she went to the pool and tried to relax while reading under one of the trees. It wasn’t easy, Sansa wanted to focus on the printed words, but her brain didn’t cooperate. Instead of the ink on the pages, she saw her own thoughts. 

_You like Margaery. Yes, the one you call your “best friend”. That’s the one! The same girl you pictured kissing you last night. Now you’re thinking about it again. Great work, Sansa. Great job._

After a while, she could’t take it anymore and jumped right in the pool. The weather might have been considerably warmer than on previous years, but the pool was always freezing in the mornings. The bright side was that it made her brain focus on something different than Margaery, and for that, Sansa was grateful. 

She was back on the towel when Arya joined her. Sansa’s heart started beating faster, she was anxious. She waited. Waited for something to happen, but Arya just laid her towel out next to hers and she sat there in silence. It was torture. Sansa knew that Arya was deciding what to do or what to say, weighing her options. 

“How are you?” Finally. 

“I’m okay, Arya.” Her sister arched an eyebrow and Sansa gave her a reassuring smile. “I mean it. And you?” 

“Not too bad for being so early”

“It’s eleven thirty.” 

“As I said, early.” 

Sansa rolled her eyes. “You’re incorrigible.” 

“And for that, we’re all grateful.” She stretched and plopped down on the towel. 

Arya dozed off for a while and Sansa went back to her book, her sister had never been a morning person, it might be a while until she joined the land of the living again. She was able to make some reading progress, but not as much as she would have liked. Her mind kept going to Margaery, for a change, and what she was going to do about the situation. The issues she had with the situation were because it made her feel like she was betraying Margaery. They had shared so many things over the years… why did it have to change now? Besides, they were always hugging, or touching… what now? She’d have to tell her sooner rather than later, because… what if Margaery thought she had been taking advantage of the situation? Gods! And that’s why it was so wrong, it was not okay to fall for your friend because then what? The situation was going to change for sure and Sansa would end up missing the one person that had understood her better in the last few years. What if Margaery felt awkward about it and stopped hugging Sansa? Or what if they stopped hanging out as much as they did? The mere thought of it made Sansa’s heart ache, like she was missing her already. 

“It’s perfect that you met her at uni, you know that, right?” Arya was up again. 

“I really have no idea of what you’re talking about.” Sansa decided that she might as well close her book, her sister demanded full attention. 

“I mean, you can have all the lesbian sex you want with your girl and if it doesn’t work out in the end, you can always say you were experimenting.” 

“Arya!” Sansa hoped she didn’t look as flushed as she felt. She probably did, though. “Oh gods. Stop it, please?” 

She knew her sister was just enjoying herself with those jokes, she liked to make Sansa feel uncomfortable. Where was Jon when she needed him to distract her? That bastard was probably sleeping, damn him. 

“Come on, Sansa! It’s funny cause it’s true.” She winked at her. 

Sansa couldn’t take it anymore. It was too awkward. She had just started fantasizing about kissing Margaery, she wasn’t going to let Arya put those other images in her head. 

“Whatever. I’m going to play some basketball. Alone.” 

“Yes, you do that big sis! Exercise is a great way to relieve sexual frustration!” 

Sansa groaned and glared at Arya, hoping that the hate message she was trying to convey was delivered. Arya started laughing, so chances were that it didn’t, really. 

 

Basketball helped. Sansa spent nearly an hour focused on the ball and the net… the way it bounced and how it felt against her fingertips. How the muscles in her arms flexed and stretched whenever she took a shot. She focused on the sound the ball did when it hit the backboard, or how it swooshed right into the net. Sometimes she knew right away, the moment the ball left her fingers… she knew it’d go right in. Or that it’d be a miss. Those moments were one of the reasons why she loved that sport. She loved how it made her feel, and also the sense of pride it gave her. Specially because Sansa had recently started winning against her bigger and stronger brothers, she was fast, maybe not faster but she was more agile and her shots were more accurate than theirs. She might not play video games, but she was competitive, too. And winning at something made her feel really, really good. 

By the time she grabbed her phone, for the first time that day, it was almost lunch time. She had done a great job ignoring it, but after a while she just couldn’t take it anymore. Like she had predicted, Margaery had called her and then she had texted her. She used to do that whenever she got no answer the first time. 

_Yo, Stark, I hope your silence doesn’t mean you’re hungover. Such a lightweight. Wanna hit the town later? Gimme a call or something_ ;) 

Sansa had to laugh at Margaery’s choice of words, she was such a weirdo. A perfect, perfect weirdo. She sighed. Normally, she would have replied right away, but her anxiety kicked in and she decided to put her phone away for a while. If she answered like she always did she would be pretending, and she didn’t want to lie to Margaery. So, what were the other options? Either to get back to normal, controlling her mind and getting her brain to forget about that stupid crush on her friend (unlikely to happen, since she didn't have an on/off switch)… or giving herself some time to figure out if she wanted to confess or not. She wasn’t happy with either of those options, but maybe taking some time off the friendship would help. And maybe she could even come up with a plan that didn’t suck, like those two did. She stared at her phone, filled with guilt. It was the right thing to do, she needed to do that. Margaery deserved better. She repeated it to herself trying to get herself to believe it. It didn’t work.

 

Margaery called again that evening while she was watching a movie with Arya. Sansa sighed, looked at her phone and silenced the call. Once the screen turned dark again she put her phone facing down on the table. If she didn’t see it maybe it would hurt less. Wasn’t that what the theory said? 

“What the in the seven hells are you doing?” Arya shook her head after seeing that. 

“I’m avoiding Margaery, what does it look like I’m doing?” Sansa replied, in her most somber tone. 

“Oh. Oh! So you _are_ avoiding her. Boy, and I thought you weren’t that idiotic.” 

“Guess you were wrong. For a change.” Her words tasted like bitterness. 

“Sansa, listen to yourself.” Arya looked at her with a mix of worry and disbelief. “She’s probably wondering about you. You’re going to scare the shit out of her if you don’t reply.” 

Sansa frowned. She knew Arya was probably right. No, she was definitely right. If it had been the other way around, she would have made a trip to the Tyrell’s already just to make sure that Margaery wasn’t dead or anything like that… but replying to the text or the call meant that she’d have to be face to face with Margaery again, at some point, and that filled her with anxiety and dread. 

“If I see her, I’ll… I don’t know. I’ll want to tell because I hate lying to her.” 

“Please, tell me what’s wrong about that scenario, because… that? I don’t get it.” 

“This is my best friend we’re talking about!” 

“Even better!” 

“This isn’t a rom com, Arya. Life isn’t a fairytale where falling for your best friend is the best thing ever and you’re happily ever after. I learned that the hard way, so now I have to accept it.” Sansa closed her eyes and took a big breath. “You don’t understand… ” 

“No, I do I understand. Perfectly. You’re scared to tell her in case she doesn’t feel the same way, and then she’ll be weirded out and you’ll lose her.” Her sister said it like she was bored out of her mind. 

“… Damn you, Arya.” 

Her sister smiled and Sansa, even though she was feeling miserable, mirrored her. Peace lasted for a few seconds, because then Arya got serious again. 

“But I’ve got news for you too, big sis. If you keep being like you are right now? Well, you’re going to lose her all the same. You’re not stupid, you know it’s true.”

It was. 

“I just need some time, Arya. I’ll… I’ll figure something out soon.” She bit her lip, feeling as guilty as ever.

“You better, because otherwise… I don’t know. If it was me, I’d be pissed off. She’s not stupid either.” 

 

The next day, she kept her phone away most of the time. It was hard, harder even than admitting the truth to herself (or well, harder than Arya telling her). She needed to talk to her friend about it, she needed to go to Margaery’s and say “oh my gods, you won’t believe what happened to me, it’s crazy!” and she couldn’t do it because… well, for obvious reasons. How frustrating was that? According to Sansa, very. 

Sansa also noticed the way Arya looked at her, she didn’t approve it and it was so obvious that it made her feel guilty every time she caught her staring. They hadn’t talked about it again, but what was there to say? Sansa was set on keeping the silence and Arya didn’t support that decision. That was the end of it. Even worse than that was how not only they weren’t talking about the Margaery issue, but they were just not talking about anything anymore. Apparently Arya was determined to make her confess to Margaery, a thought that didn’t make Sansa feel comfortable, yet. She just needed time, was it that hard to understand? 

Her phone chimed late in the evening.

_Okay, I’m officially worried now. What’s going on, San? You okay? D:_

It broke her heart. It’d be so easy to just send her a quick thing, letting her know that she was fine. Or at least pretending that she was. She thought of Arya, who said that it was selfish not wanting to say a word to her. Was it? Should she reconsider? After a short debate with herself, she started typing a reply. Every letter she pressed felt like a mistake. 

_Everything’s fine. Talk to you soon._

She pressed send before giving it a second thought and waited until the message was delivered. Then she locked the screen and shoved the phone away from her. The text looked as fake as it was and Margaery would see right through the her and her lies… but at least she’d have an answer, she’d knew she was alive… it was better than silence. 

Another lie that she had yet to believe herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a lot of Margaery in this chapter, but she'll be back soon... and she'll have a few things to say. 
> 
> Thanks for reading :3


	7. Nothing scares me anymore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa thinks about the past. Margaery confronts her about their present.

Sansa had been sitting on the edge of the pool, simply staring at the water for a long time, hypnotized by the ripples in there. They created beautiful patterns of light and shadows. Every time she moved her feet she created more ripples in the water. Fascinating. She had been spending a lot of time outside the house, lately. The air in there wasn’t enough for her to breathe comfortably, or so it seemed. The pool had become her new favorite place. Arya would join her from time to time, but mostly she left her alone, understanding that maybe Sansa wanted to be on her own. She was right, most of the time. Others, not so much. She missed her sister. She missed Margaery. 

Sansa had been noticing her parents’ worried looks, too. Whenever that happened, she tried to fake-smile more often so they wouldn’t worry as much. It wasn’t working, though, because they kept staring at her with concern in their eyes. Was she such a bad liar? At least Arya hadn’t told them anything, so that was good. She had seen the questioning glances towards her siblings, but they all shrugged, Jon and Robb because they didn’t know, Arya because (apparently) she was a better liar than herself. She knew they all wondered why she hadn’t left the house lately, why Margaery wasn’t around anymore. It was normal, honestly, she had been in the Stark’s house as much as in her own… she was almost like one of them. Her disappearance raised questions that no one dared to ask yet. 

Five days had passed since the party and she hadn’t talked to anyone but her family, if one could call Sansa’s one word answers a real talk. Not a word to Margaery. Specially not to Margaery. Margaery never replied to Sansa’s text and she hadn’t tried to contact her again. She had regretted lying to her like that, specially when it was so obvious that it was a lie… but in her defense, it was just really painful to think of her now that she had admitted her own feelings. The whole thing made her feel like she couldn’t do anything right because there was always going to be something wrong with whatever choice she made.

Sansa was scared of what the next year would bring, of moving or not moving in together with Margaery, and most importantly… she was scared of losing her if she told her anything. Their years of friendship had made wonders to Sansa’s state of mind and she didn’t want to go back to how she was without her. Back when they met she had been a complete mess, Sansa had almost refused to go to university, and when she finally accepted she only did it because she didn’t want to disappoint her family even more. She already felt like a failure. But then they had met, then everything had changed. As soon as Margaery started to know Sansa a bit better, she became aware of what went on in the other girl’s head. Then, for months Margaery started to empower Sansa with words, she became a pillar in her life, telling her that she was no little bird, that she was like one of those Winterfell wolves. Strong. Powerful when they needed to be. She didn’t have to be scared of everything because, like wolves, she could deal with things. She just had to find her own way. 

Margaery made sure that Sansa repeated that to herself, no matter how much she had complained at first. It took time, lots of time, Sansa always faked it in the beginning and Margaery knew, but she never commented on it… she knew those kind of things took time. Eventually, though, Sansa started saying it more convincingly. She started to actually believe it… and that had been Margaery’s plan all along. Sansa took baby steps at first. For example, stating her opinion about the food they went to try every Wednesday, their day. It was hard, specially when she disliked something… she wasn’t used to those words. Things like “I don’t like this” felt strange when pronouncing them. But she started saying them until they felt normal again, she felt safe with Margaery. 

She remembered the day she took Margaery to their favorite bakery, the one they had discovered together one of the first times they had seen each other. That day, Sansa made her try the lemon cakes while she went on and on about how much she loved them and why. Later she realized that it had been the longest she had spoken about something she was so passionate about, to Margaery or to anyone, in the past few years. She also remembered Margaery’s smile as she spoke incessantly. She looked happy. Proud. 

She was so absorbed in her own thoughts, remembering those good days, that she didn’t realize she had tears in her eyes. She didn’t hear the steps, either. 

“Sansa.” 

Margaery’s voice came from behind and Sansa froze. She didn’t, couldn’t, turn. She didn’t want Margaery to see her tears. She had never liked it when people saw her crying. Stupid tears! Why didn’t they have an off switch or something like that? It would have been so useful for those kind of moments. 

“Are you okay?” Sansa could hear the worry in her voice and she felt a pang of guilt on her chest. It was her fault she was worried. 

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Her voice cracked making her words lose all their meaning. 

“You’re lying to me. Again.” It wasn’t a question. With Margaery most things weren’t. “I came here the day after the party, you know? Arya said you were napping… I thought it was weird because you never do that, but then I thought that well, maybe since you had been partying the night before… maybe you were in fact napping for a change. So I left.” 

She paused and sighed, Sansa wondered why Arya had never mentioned the visit to her. She wiped her tears, hoping that Margaery wouldn’t notice, wondering too if the other girl was done talking. But she wasn’t. 

“Then there was silence, until that text, of course… which was total bullshit, and we both know it. But it’s been five days, Sansa. Five fucking days. On my way here I was wondering what would happen, what would you say? Because I can’t understand anything anymore.” 

She heard Margaery’s sigh behind her and Sansa turned to her slightly. Facing her was herder than she had anticipated. 

“But apparently you have nothing to say.” She sounded bitter. Disappointed. “What was so terrible in the party you won’t talk to me anymore? Did anyone do something to you? Did it bother you that I was busy with other people? That I didn’t have time for us? What’s wrong, Sansa?” 

Sansa’s voice was soft, like a whisper, but enough to be heard by the other girl. “Margaery, I really don’t want to do this right n—” 

“I don’t care!” 

Margaery didn’t let her finish and Sansa looked at her directly, for the first time that day, shocked by the almost yell. That was a first. Margaery’s eyes stared furiously at her, if they saw Sansa’s tears, Margaery gave no sign of it. She just kept going. 

“I’m tired of this, Sansa. I’m tired of you being an asshole!” 

Sansa gulped. It hurt, everything did, and not because of what Margaery was saying, but because the other girl looked so hurt. Margaery didn’t deserve any of it, it wasn’t her fault, after all. It wasn’t her fault that her best friend fell for her. 

“I… I’m sorry.” 

“No. It’s not enough. Not now. Not anymore.” Margaery shook her head. “Unless you’ve got an explanation, keep the apologies to yourself.” 

Sansa’s mind was a turmoil of emotions and thoughts. She wanted to say something, she wanted to make Margaery understand… but she couldn’t. She couldn’t choose even one of the hundreds of things that were going through her head every second, she stared in silence, watching Margaery’s face get filled with disappointment and hurt with every passing second. A part of her brain said “just tell her”. But she couldn’t. 

Margaery shook her head and let out a bitter laugh. Then she started to walk away. Was she giving up on her already? Sansa could have sworn that her heart had clenched. But Margaery stopped. She stopped and turned to face her once again. Sansa dried her cheeks with the back of her hands, wanting to look somehow presentable. 

“Just so you know.” She glared at her. Margaery actually glared at her and Sansa felt her heart sink even more. “This? This is not okay. You being all… I don’t even know how to describe it, Sansa… I’m so angry! Gods, I’m your friend, I’ve been there for the good and the bad, but this?… this isn’t you, and we both know it. So for fuck’s sake, either you pull yourself together or you let me in so we can fix whatever’s broken together. Is that so much to ask?” 

So Margaery wasn’t coddling her anymore, that was for sure. Sansa bit the inside of her cheek while staring at her. Margaery stared back, waiting. Waiting for something to happen. _Just tell her!_

“I… Sorry.” She tried. She tried but Sansa found herself unable to pronounce anything useful. Inside, she was screaming. Why couldn’t she say a thing? 

Margaery stared at her, sadness and resignation taking over the anger. It was one of those defining moments, she realized, and she was paralyzed. 

“Okay then…” Margaery sighed. Without giving her a second glance she turned around, again… except she didn’t stop that time. She left. 

Sansa watched her disappear inside of the house before turning to stare at the emptiness of their backyard, feeling as alone as ever. What was she doing with her life? Margaery was right, she had to pull herself together, because she wasn’t doing things right. Many things from that week weren’t and she didn’t know if it was too late to fix it. She should have given her an explanation, at least… she was such a coward. 

She heard steps and turned, wishing and fearing it was Margaery again. But it was Robb on the porch. She didn’t know what to feel. 

“Hey, what’s wrong with Margaery? She looked like sh—” 

The moment he saw his sister he got quiet. She probably looked even worse than Margaery did (could Margaery look bad? That was something up for discussion). 

“What happened?” He almost ran towards Sansa, wrapping his arms around her when he got there. Sansa liked the sense of safety that always came with his hugs. 

“I’ve messed everything up, Robb.” She felt tears forming again and she shut her eyes, not wanting to let them out. 

“I’m sure you haven’t.” 

“But I have. And now she hates me, probably, and I’m stupid for letting that happen.” Sansa sighed. “Why couldn’t I say something to make her stay?” 

“If you’ve messed up, fix it.” He shrugged, letting her go so he could look at her in the eye. 

“I can’t, she left.” 

“So?” 

“So? She _left_.” It seemed like every time she said it, it hurt more. 

“Then go after her!” He smiled softly. “It’s not like you don’t know where she lives or anything.” 

Sansa frowned at his words. Could she do that? It was such a simple answer… how come she hadn’t thought of it before? She took a deep breath. Yes. She was going to do it! She’d find her and then she’d tell her. No more hiding, no more being an asshole, as Margaery had put it. 

With a tiny smile on her face, a hopeful one, she kissed Robb on the cheek before thanking him for his help. Then she started running towards the house. Towards a pair of sneakers. If she was going after Margaery Tyrell, she wasn’t doing it in flip flops. 

 

She felt like she had been running for the longest time before she saw Margaery at last, turning a corner. Sansa sprinted after her, knowing that it’d soon be over. Her heart was beating up so fast… It was because of the run, she told herself, not because she was about to tell Margaery that she had feelings for her. It was totally not because of that. 

Almost there. 

“Marg!” She couldn’t wait any longer so the moment she turned that corner she yelled after her. 

Margaery turned, surprised. Sansa could tell by the look on her face that she wasn’t expecting her, or that situation. At all. Sansa had stopped running and was walking towards her, slowly, trying to get her breathing under control. And her heart. Her damn heart. 

“Wait.” She hoped she looked sorry enough. “I’ll explain.” 

Margaery’s expression softened, filling Sansa with hope. For a few seconds at least, the next moment she realized that it had all been a terrible mistake. She should have thought of something before running all the way there, because now that she was brainstorming nothing felt okay. _Hey, Margaery, I like you. But reaaaally like you, you know?_ Nope. _Margaery, I’m totally gay for you._ Even worse. _So, you’re single, I’m single (and I like you)… let’s stop being single together._ Gods, what was wrong with her?! 

“So?” 

Okay. Sansa clearly couldn’t tell her any of those things. But maybe… just maybe… maybe she could show her? It’d be okay, it had to be. No matter what happened in the end. She was a wolf. Not a bird. Wolves could pull that stuff off. They were badass. And although Sansa felt anything but badass at that moment… she was determined. 

A wolf. 

So she did it. 

She wasn’t sure of how it all happened, all of a sudden she was just standing right in front of Margaery, so close that she wondered if the other girl could hear her heart beating. And then she was holding Margaery’s face with her own hands and… and then she kissed her. She just kissed her. For a moment, a glorious moment, all she could think of was how Margaery’s lips felt on hers, how amazing and perfect they were, so warm and soft… But it didn’t last long because Margaery hadn’t moved an inch. She hadn’t moved and Sansa felt the awkwardness invade her because, really, for how long can you kiss someone who hasn’t invited you to do so, before it gets weird? 

She started to pull away, her lips already missing the contact, wondering how she’d explain what had just happened… but her thoughts were interrupted by Margaery’s hands, hands that were on her waist, pulling her closer, making their bodies and lips collide again. This time, Margaery responded with such intensity that Sansa couldn’t keep a moan from escaping her lips. She entangled her fingers in Margaery’s curls, loving the way it felt instantly, loving how _everything_ felt. They were kissing just like that. It was simple. Easy. No second thoughts, just the two of them in the middle of the street where anyone could see them. But who cared, really, when you had someone like Margaery Tyrell kissing you like there was no tomorrow? She didn’t, that was for sure. When she finally broke the kiss it was only because she needed the oxygen. Internally, Sansa cursed. How came that breathing was more important? It made no sense to her. 

“Seven hells…” Margaery stared at Sansa like she couldn’t believe what had just happened. Sansa understood, she couldn’t believe it either. “Now, that should explain a thing or two.” 

“I… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” She didn’t believe her words, Margaery probably didn’t either, but she felt the need to say them as a way to protect herself, or themselves. 

“Oh, dear.” Margaery smirked as she tucked a loose strand of Sansa’s hair behind her ear. Her voice was soft. “Of all the things I wanted you to apologize for… believe me, kissing me was not, is not in fact, one of them.” 

Sansa’s breath hitched. It felt like an important statement, she wished it was. So much was implied in Margaery’s words… Sansa hadn’t even predicted that something like that might happen. Seemed like the day was full of surprises for both of them. 

“Then… I won’t apologize?” 

“Gods, I hope not.” Margaery arched an eyebrow. “Are you sorry you did it?” 

Sansa ran a hand through her hair and shook her head, smiling and blushing. 

“Excellent, then.” 

Margaery leaned on the wall behind her. She kept smirking, it made Sansa want to kiss her again, because in that moment kissing against the wall of someone else’s house sounded like the most perfect thing ever. Suddenly, Sansa felt weird thinking about it while Margaery was standing right there, so she had to focus on what was happening there instead than in her own daydreams. 

Reality was a bit more awkward. “What now?” 

“Now you’re going to answer a few questions.” 

“Am I?” Sansa panicked. She has having trouble with words as it was, how would she answer anything? 

“Oh, yes.” Margaery looked amused. “But I’ll give you time, if that’s what you need.” 

“I do, I think. You don’t?” Sansa couldn’t help but ask, she was a bit confused about everything.

“Go home, Sansa. I’ll see you tomorrow. But call me this time.” Margaery looked away, at the street that would take her home. Away from Sansa. 

“Marg…” 

Sansa reached out for her hand. It was the same hand that she had held plenty of times before, but then it felt like a completely new thing, a first time. She couldn’t help but look at how their fingers entwined together in awe. When she finally looked up, Margaery was staring at her with that look on her face. One that said that she knew more than Sansa did, maybe because Margaery had a script of the whole situation and someone forgot to give Sansa her own. A totally plausible answer. 

Sansa wanted to say many things for which she had no words, so instead she did the only thing she could think of in that moment. Sansa gave her a quick kiss, a tentative one. Was she allowed to do it whenever she wanted? She didn’t know anything anymore. She could only hope. 

“See you tomorrow.” Sansa let go of the hand and turned away, heading back home. 

She didn’t look back because if she did, she’d want to retrace her steps and it’d be awkward to explain why she wasn’t able to leave. _You’re just so kissable and now that I’ve started I just can’t stop, I need more._ On a second thought, it wasn’t such a bad explanation, after all. Awkward for her? Yes. Bad? Nope. Just real. Had Margaery looked at herself in the mirror? How could Sansa not want to do that over and over again? It’d be crazy to think otherwise. 

To hells with everything, she thought. She turned around and saw Margaery, still leaning on the wall, looking at her. Sansa grinned, matching the expression in Margaery’s face, and almost ran towards her again. That was quickly becoming a thing and she didn’t mind one bit. 

She ran her hands through Margaery’s hair a second before closing the space between them. When their lips met again Sansa could tell almost instantly that it was different than the previous times, she tilted her head, her mouth opened slightly and when their tongues met for the first time, it made Sansa think of fireworks. And bright colors. And awesome things. Margaery’s hands were on her lower back and the moment one of them moved even lower, Sansa made a noise that made the other girl laugh. She wanted to tell Margaery not to dare to move that hand. Ever. But she couldn’t find words, again. Her mouth was being used for much pleasant things. 

When Sansa finally pulled away, a bit self-conscious about where they were at last, she was still smiling. Had time passed? Because she thought that maybe it had stopped for her, for them. It felt that important. 

“Sorry. I had to. I just… sorry.” 

“Stop apologizing, Sans.” Margaery shook her head, amused. “I’m leaving now, or we won’t leave at all. But I’ll see you tomorrow…” 

“Okay.” She nodded. “Let’s do that. Leave, I mean. Yes. Bye, Margaery.” 

“Till tomorrow, Sansa.” 

Tomorrow. Definitely. Sansa waved, then she started walking towards home, not being able to wipe away the stupid smile from her face on the whole way back. She was happy she didn’t meet anyone before reaching her room because she just felt like laughing and it’d be quite weird to explain. 

Gods. She had been so nervous. She _was_ so nervous, still. But good kind of nervous. Awesome kind of nervous, actually. The next day, she’d see Margaery again… things were okay, they were talking to each other. Or well, they hadn’t talked much but… it was good anyway. She laid on her bed, looking at the ceiling, still smiling like crazy. Replaying everything that had happened in her mind, the good part, not the part where she stopped talking to Margaery. The _good_ part.

 

“How did it go?” 

Arya didn’t bother knocking on her door, she just let herself in. Sansa closed her laptop and sat on her bed. She shrugged, nonchalantly. 

“Come on!” 

“What?” 

Sansa knew that when Arya demanded answers she could be quite persistent, but that didn’t mean that she wouldn’t make her sister work for those answers.

“I want the details. What happened between you two?” 

“We’re… fixing things.” 

“And by that you mean you’re being gay together and stuff?” 

“Arya!” 

“Well, if you don’t tell me, I’m going to make all the assumptions I want. Which may or may not include pervy things.” 

Sansa laughed. “You have quite an imagination, little sister. It’s disturbing.” 

“For fuck’s sake, Sansa!” She groaned. “I can tell by your smile that things didn’t go as bad as you had planned, so just spill it already!” 

She bit her lip. She should tell Arya after everything she had done for them… had it not been for her sister, Sansa didn’t know what would have happened. She would probably still be bitter about everything. Maybe Arya didn’t deserve to be tortured right now, no. She deserved to share her happiness. 

“We might have… well… kissed.” 

“Oh, my gods!” Arya raised her hands, fists closed. It was a victory, indeed. “Are you kidding me?!” 

Sansa grinned like an idiot. She wasn’t. She wasn’t kidding. She had been kissing Margaery! It was a fact, something that had happened and not just in her mind. It happened!

“How was it?!”

Sansa’s eyes gleamed when she started telling Arya how she chased Margaery and how she got brave all of a sudden; and how she “showed” her instead of saying it with words, because it was easier that way. She told her how at first it felt like a big mistake, but that it only lasted a few seconds until Margaery reacted and kissed her back, which was one of the best feelings in the world. Wow. It felt so strange to be talking about it. It felt like fiction. 

“N’aw, my sister has a girlfriend!” 

“Don’t say that!” Sansa blushed. “I don’t know what’s happening yet…” 

“You know what’s hilarious? That you’re not even sure if you’re together or what, but you’re moving in with her! Lesbians, man. You must be setting a new record or something.” 

“Oh, shut up!” Sansa laughed, awkwardly, while biting one of her nails. “So… do you think we should move in together?” 

“Do whatever feels right.” Arya shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

“Yeah, but what do you think?” 

Arya laughed. “Too much pressure!” 

“I’m just asking for an opinion, dumbass. It doesn’t mean I’ll do whatever you tell me!” Sansa glared at Arya, who was grinning. 

“Do you want to?” 

“Of course I do. But it’s going to make things way more complicated.” 

“Things are as complicated as you make them.” Arya shrugged and left the room, smiling at Sansa before closing the door again. 

 

That evening, during the family dinner, Sansa participated and joked around, exactly like she used to do, knowing that her parents and brothers were looking at each other wondering what had changed. Only Arya knew and she ignored all the glances except Sansa’s. She felt her little sister saying without words that there was no need to worry, that she wouldn’t say a thing. When had Arya stopped being an annoying little girl to a precious human being? 

She looked at her phone before going to bed. She wanted to text Margaery, to let her know that she had been thinking of her - basically, it was all she had been doing, but she wasn’t going to confess that much. But it felt that a text, so soon after what had happened, was the wrong thing to do. And she couldn’t call because it’d be really awkward. Gods, complications everywhere. All of a sudden, she remembered Arya’s words from that same evening… maybe she was overthinking it (she knew she was). 

She typed a text on her phone, one that she knew she’d never send, but she felt like getting it out of her system. 

_I’ve missed you. I want to kiss you again._

She deleted it, feeling just a little bit better. But she was impatient that night, so she started typing again, unable to stop herself. 

_I’ve missed you._

She could say that. She could. There was nothing wrong with it. And maybe Margaery would understand, maybe she’d know that Sansa had been dealing with some issues and that she had never intended to do the things she had done (except for the events in the afternoon, of course). She pressed send and smiled. She was like a wolf. Wolves weren’t scared of little texts. They could face things. She wasn’t going to fly away scared, no. Not anymore. 

The phone vibrated on her hand and startled Sansa, who wasn’t really expecting an answer, at least not so soon. 

_I missed you too. Now I regret not visiting sooner… Night, Sansa!_

She left the phone on the bedside table and turned off the lights, wondering if she’d be able to sleep after everything that had happened. And for the first time in a long time, Sansa went to sleep with a smile on her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to update sooner, but oh Summer! I've been traveling and stuff... so I apologize for the wait :) Hopefully the chapter will make up for it (the longest I've written yet!) 
> 
> Happy august, btw!


	8. Summertime is nice and hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sansa needs to talk about some things, although maybe she won't get all the answers she's looking for.

In the aftermath, there was no walking on sunshine. No waking up to the sound of happy music playing in her own head. Sansa woke up as nervous as ever, last night’s smile already forgotten. _Now what?_ That was the most prominent question. Now what? Sansa had no clue and she didn’t know where to find the answers. She also knew that she was overthinking everything, like usual. She just couldn’t help it. It had started to be one of her most notorious traits, thinking way too much. How annoying. 

She went from her room to the kitchen, stretching on the way, wondering what she’d have for breakfast that morning. She knew that the kitchen was empty before she arrived because there weren’t sounds coming from it, instead of the usual morning chatter she encountered silence and Sansa frowned. Being alone in the kitchen was always strange. It was the meeting place for the family in the mornings, so when Sansa sat by herself on one of the chairs after making some coffee, she didn’t know what to do with herself. She sipped her coffee and looked at her phone. First, to check what time it was -too early, that’s why her siblings were still sleeping- and then to check her messages. Or well, she had to be honest with herself, she just wanted to see if Margaery had written to her after last night’s text (she hadn’t). She debated on whether calling or texting, later. Luckily for her, she got company and distraction so she didn’t have to overthink anything yet. 

“Good morning, kid. You’re up early.” Her dad kissed the top of her head while on his way to the coffee machine. “How are you feeling today?” 

“I’m good.” Sansa smiled and she meant it, for the first time in a while.

“I’m glad. You look… better.” 

“I am. And dad, I… I’m sorry about this past week.” She smiled, apologetically. “Hopefully it won’t happen again.” 

Ned smiled softly, understandingly. She could see relief on his eyes and Sansa wondered if her parents had been worried that she’d go back to her old self. The girl who was too scared to do most things, who thought so little about herself. The little bird. 

“Hey, as long as you’re feeling good now. That’s all that matters to us.” He put his hand on hers. “And remember that you can always talk to your mom or to me, I know it’s not the cool thing to do… but you know us. We’ll support you and your decisions.” 

“I know, dad. And thanks for that, really.” Sansa grinned. She was a lucky girl. “By the way, I might go to Margaery’s place in a bit. Or she might come here, I don’t know yet.” 

“Ah, so you’re talking again.” 

“You noticed, huh?” 

Ned laughed. “Sansa, you saw her almost daily. Of course we notice. Despite of what you might think, your parents are not that stupid.” 

“Really? And here I was, thinking that you bought your Law degree with lots of money and favors.”

“Don’t be such a smartass, kid.” 

 

After a long breakfast (they had waited for the rest of the family to join them in the kitchen), Sansa went back to her room, phone in hand. She had decided that calling Margaery was a better option, texting didn’t seem appropriate at that time. Besides, thanks to the hour spent in the kitchen it was an acceptable time to call another person. 

Sansa pressed a few keys and then she took a couple of deep breaths, gathering the strength to call. When she finally pressed the green button, she held her breath. It rang twice before Margaery picked up, to Sansa’s relief. She wasn’t sure if she would have been able to repeat the process anytime soon. 

“Hey…” Sansa wished she had been able to say something more elaborate than that. 

“Hey yourself.” 

“Good morning.” Sansa felt so shy and so dumb, since it was Margaery she was talking to. “So… how are you?” 

“Ah, it’s all good. What about you?” 

“I’m… I’m okay.” _Happy. Scared. Excited. Nervous. Wanting to see you._ But she wouldn’t say that. Mostly because she knew her brain wouldn’t cooperate in that moment. 

“That’s great, Sansa.” 

_Most awkward conversation ever? Check._ Sansa closed her eyes and took yet another deep breath. 

“Do you want to meet? In a bit?” 

“I’m on a hammock, in the pool.” There was a pause. “That means yes, I can meet whenever you want.” 

Sansa tried not to grin at the thought of Margaery in a bikini, it was easy to imagine since she had seen her countless times before, a few of them in that hammock she was probably referring to. Bless her imagination. 

“Do you want to meet me here or somewhere else?” She asked, trying to distract her own thoughts.

“Come here. Your place is always too crowded and I’m all alone.” 

Sansa’s mouth went dry all of a sudden, probably fueled by the anticipation of what that could mean.

“Where’s everyone?” She tried to sound nonchalant. 

“Shopping, or something. They left at the crack of dawn.” She could picture Margaery shrugging. “So Sansa, come whenever you want.” 

“Give me an hour, I’ll be there.” 

“And I’ll be waiting.” 

 

A wolf, she had to remind herself. Shyness invaded her before knocking on the Tyrell’s door, she silently asked the gods to spare her from blushing, even if it was just for a while… she wasn’t asking for much, was she? When her knuckles finally met the wood in front of her, twice, her heart was beating so fast that Sansa imagined it breaking free from her chest and running away… or bouncing away, since hearts didn’t have legs. Sansa shook her head getting rid of those silly thoughts just in time, because when the door opened, after what seemed like an eternity, Sansa gaped. It was quite a vision being greeted by Margaery in nothing but a bikini. Sansa’s hormones were having a blast, that was for sure. She didn’t quite understand it, because she had seen Margaery like that many times before, _but never after kissing_ , she thought to herself. That made it different. Very, very different. It opened a whole new world of possibilities and… 

“Morning, Sans…” Margaery smiled and let her in. 

“Hey there.” Good thing Margaery had talked, or her brain would have started to number some of those possibilities. 

Sansa stood awkwardly in the hall, not knowing what to do and trying too hard not to stare. 

“I thought it’d take you longer, sometimes I forget you’re always on time.” At least Margaery knew how to use words. 

“It’s okay.” _Focus on her eyes._

“Give me five minutes to change, the video game I was playing got really intense and… this happened.” 

_Thank gods for video games, then. But please don’t change._ “I’ll be in the living room.” 

Margaery winked at her and Sansa walked towards one of the couches. She got comfy and grabbed a magazine, leafing through it although she not paying much attention to it, her mind was elsewhere. Margaery in a bikini, that’s what she was thinking about. Gods, she had to control herself. 

After a while, she returned the ignored magazine to the coffee table and looked around. Then to her watch. How many minutes had passed? Why did it feel like an eternity? She couldn’t stand it anymore. She got up and climbed the stairs that led her to Margaery’s room. She knocked softly. 

“Come in, I’m presentable and all that.”

Margaery was getting her hair in a messy bun when Sansa opened her door. She was already dressed in black shorts and a white loose t-shirt and although she looked great, Sansa found herself missing that bikini. Gods, when had she turned into a horny teenager? 

“Sorry, I was bored downstairs.” 

“Don’t apologize, I appreciate the company.” 

“This is super awkward, right? Or is it just me?” Sansa sighed as she plopped down on Margaery’s bed, looking at the controller next to her. She could picture Margaery playing right there, on her bed. In a bikini. _Damn it, Sansa, get it together._

“It’s only awkward because you’re thinking too much.” 

“I am not.” 

Margaery looked at her through the mirror in front of her while she fixed her hair. She arched an eyebrow. No, she hadn’t bought it. 

“I know you, Sansa. You’re going through all these scenarios in your head, wondering _“oh my gods, what’s going to happen and what if we mess up and oh gods, why me?_ ”… am I close enough?” 

Damn. “I… well, let’s say that you’re right,” Margaery tried not to laugh and failed. Sansa glared at her, but kept going. “ Let’s say that I’m thinking too much… how can you not?!” 

Margaery smirked and turned to her. “I just know what I want.” 

“And what is that?” Sansa bit her lip. 

“Let me show you.” 

Margaery closed the gap between them, never breaking eye contact until she was so close that Sansa had to shut her eyes, focusing instead on the way the proximity felt. She felt Margaery’s breath on her skin before their lips touched. But just barely. Suddenly Sansa was missing the soft touch. She opened her eyes, looking confused. 

Sansa was not happy with the situation, and didn’t think twice before complaining. “Hey!” 

“What?” Margaery feigned ignorance and Sansa felt a surge of bravery. 

“Not cool. Come back here.” 

“Are you sure? Because, I don’t know… Maybe you should think about it a bit more.” 

Sansa glared at Margery before grabbing her from the pockets of her shorts and pulling her closer. Then she stood up, hating to be in such a disadvantaged position. She kept trying to look indignant, but she was probably failing because Margaery looked amused. Sansa decided that it was time to change her tactic and instead, she simply showed Margaery that some things she didn’t have to think as much. 

At least not in that moment. Not when it came to kissing her.

She’d probably do it later, but she’d deny having that thought. Shush, brain, she told herself. 

Kissing Margaery was somewhat addictive. Her senses were overwhelmed, her brain had a difficult time processing how Margaery felt, because it wasn’t just about her lips, it was the fact that she tasted like the coffee Sansa knew she always had in the mornings, mixed with the smell of chlorine from the pool, and it was the little sounds she made, feeling her pressed against her own body, her hands wandering… it was all too much. Just too much. Sansa had to pull away to take a deep breath and regain some control over her body and her senses. The sight was wonderful. Margaery had her hair a bit disheveled, which was totally her fault and Sansa had to smirk at that thought; rosy cheeks, lips parted, trying to catch her breath. Wonderful, indeed. 

“Gods, Sansa.” Margaery’s voice was lower than a minute before. 

“I know, right?” She let out a small laugh. “I’m glad I didn’t wait on the living room.” 

Margaery smiled. Not her trademark smirk but a sweet one, the special smile that as usual, made Sansa melt a bit. “So am I…” 

They decided in that moment, without using a single word that they had talked enough for a while. 

 

Not long after that, they agreed that it was time for a break, they needed to cool down because things had been… well, getting quite intense. So while Margaery went to the kitchen to grab some iced tea, Sansa was told to stay on the living room. Being apart for a couple of minutes was good, needed even. Sansa had to to regain control over her own body. She was almost completely sure that had they kept making out for a few more minutes, she would have ended up undressing Margaery with her own teeth, if needed. It would have been so easy… But no. Instead, they decided to get a refreshment. She sighed, the intensity of it all scared Sansa, but at the same time it made her tremble with excitement and anticipation. 

Not knowing what to do with herself, once again, she grabbed the same magazine she had before and re-read the cover. She wasn’t into flowers and gardens, but considering whose house it was it made sense that their reading material was about that. It looked boring, though. 

“Do you want to have " _the talk_ " now?” 

Sansa looked up from the magazine taken by surprise by Margaery’s voice. She was leaning against the door frame, holding two glasses in one hand and a bottle of iced tea in the other. Gods she was so attractive no matter what she was doing. It drove Sansa crazy, in the best possible way. 

“I’d rather not.” She answered honestly, and Margaery smirked. “But I think we should.” 

“A Stark’s duty, huh?” 

“Something like that.” Sansa smiled, amused. Then she thought about what she wanted to say, and after a few seconds she decided to bring up the safest topic. “It’s just… If everything goes according to plan, we’re moving in together in a few weeks.” 

“I’m aware.” Margaery nodded, moving away from the door and sitting next to Sansa. “I love that flat from your last email, by the way.” 

Relief ran through Sansa. She had liked it! She couldn’t wait home to start the arrangements, maybe they could go see it, and maybe… Wait. That wasn’t the point. Sansa went back to the present moment, where more important matters where being discussed. 

“Do you think it’s wise?” She forced herself to ask out loud the question that had been bothering her. 

“To rent it? Sure, I spoke with the landlo—“ 

“No, you idiot! To move in together.” 

She knew Margaery was just messing with her, but it was not a joking issue, they needed to talk about it! Her body, much to her dismay, betrayed her and a smile appeared on Sansa’s face. Margaery was just too charming, damn her. 

“Why wouldn’t it be wise?” Margaery shrugged, her expression calm. “We’ve talked about it for a long time. It makes sense to move in together, we were already spending most of our time in each other’s room, so what’s the difference? We’ll save money.” 

“Are you _kidding_ me?” 

“So what, Sansa? We kissed. Big deal. If we move in together, we can kiss even more. I don’t see what the issue is, to be honest.” 

Sansa smiled shyly. Kissing more, that sounded promising. And the fact that Margaery wanted to keep doing it… that was good, right? It had to be. Where did she have to sign? 

“I don’t know. I just… maybe it’s too much too soon?” 

“Look, we can move in together as friends. It doesn’t have to be more than that. You and I are going to set the pace, no one else is. We’ll have our own rooms, our own personal space… It’s not like I’m asking you to marry me before summer’s over or anything.” 

“You’re not?” 

Margaery opened her mouth and then closed it right away. She squinted at her while Sansa did her best to keep her poker face. 

“You don’t get to make those jokes, Sansa Stark!” Margaery shook her head and Sansa laughed. 

“I’m sorry, it was just too easy.” Sansa sighed. “Thinking is exhausting.” 

“Yeah, you should stop doing that. You should talk to me instead. I meant what I said yesterday… I want you to let me in, I want to get through these things with you.” 

Sansa smiled in a sad way. She wished it was as easy as Margaery made it look. With her everything seemed effortless, no matter if it was getting iced tea or talking about moving in together after all that had been going on. Was reality like that too? Could things be as simple as they felt with Margaery? Who knew, maybe it was just an illusion. Either way, she wanted to live with Margaery, of course she did. But… 

“I can still hear you thinking, Sansa.” Margaery handed her a cold glass. “You’re worrying too much...” 

“And you’re not worrying at all! How is that possible?” Sansa took a sip from her drink, feeling really awkward in that moment. Why was she complaining about Margaery being not stressed? 

She smiled softly, like she was trying to reassure Sansa. “Tell me what you’re scared of.” 

Where to start? She thought. There were so many things. So many things could go wrong, and Sansa… she didn’t know if it was wise to risk what they had, what had taken them so much time to build over the years. It sounded silly, she knew, but she had so much to lose.

“I’m terrified about what’s going to happen to us.” 

“Okay.” Margaery nodded. “Why?” 

She sounded like her old therapist in that moment. Sansa tried not to smile at that thought. 

“I don’t… I just don’t want to lose you. After all these years, I just can’t.” 

“Why would you lose me?” Margaery didn’t ask it as a rhetorical question, she honestly wanted to know the answer, Sansa could see it in her eyes. 

“Things can happen, Marg. I don’t know. People… people break up.” Scary words to pronounce. They were so many implications in them… and what if they weren’t on the same page? 

“Yes, they do.” Margaery drank from her glass before leaving it on the table . “And you know what happens to some people, too? They don’t. They stay together.” 

Sansa held her glass tightly, hoping the nervousness she felt wouldn’t be that noticeable. 

“I’ll take those odds.” The intensity of Margaery’s eyes sent shivers through her spine. “Sansa, if it means that I get to be with you, I’ll take those odds anytime.” 

She would have thrown the glass away if she hadn’t been worried about messing up the perfection of the Tyrell’s place, gods there was nothing she wanted more in that moment than throwing herself into Margaery’s arms, she would have kissed the hell out of her. But she didn’t. She took a deep breath and looked at the other girl. Margaery looked calm, determined, like what she had just said didn’t trouble her at all. She was that sure of herself. 

“Really?” Sansa’s voice trembled a bit and she cursed her nerves. 

Margery didn’t reply, instead, she took the glass from Sansa’s hands and carefully put it on the table. When she looked back at her, Sansa couldn’t believe that just with one single look Margaery could make her feel all the emotions that were rushing through her. It was almost electric, but there weren’t sparks coming out of her skin when Margaery touched her cheek with her fingers. There weren’t either when suddenly she wrapped her arms around Sansa’s waist and pulled her as close as they could be. In that moment, as Sansa hugged Margaery back, she couldn’t really explain why but being in that embrace seemed like the only way to be saved. From what she didn’t know, her own thoughts? It felt powerful, like it could change things. And Sansa wanted… needed… more. Her senses were having a meltdown again just by being in each other’s arms. 

Sansa’s mind thought of their previous hugs, the ones they gave each other on a regular basis. They were nothing like those. She had never felt such an intimate thing in her life, except maybe kissing the girl that was now holding her. Margaery nuzzled her neck and Sansa’s breath hitched, her body was craving more and an instant later, when she felt Margaery’s lips on her skin, right below her jaw, she couldn’t take it anymore. She used her own weight to push Margaery down. Her hair fell like a curtain on the sides of their faces. Everything in the world disappeared except both of them. Lying on the couch the height gap disappeared and Sansa didn’t need to look a bit down to meet Margaery’s eyes. Their lips met effortless, too, their kisses became lazy and slow, there was no hurry, they could just enjoy themselves, learn from each other. It was in that moment when Sansa found out that Margaery liked to bite her bottom lip before pulling away, even if it was momentarily, which made Sansa’s body react in really unexpected ways. Sansa also learned that tangling her fingers in Margaery’s hair while kissing kind of turned her on. That was an interesting discovery. 

“This… isn’t talking…” Sansa whispered between kisses.

Margaery pulled away slightly, just enough so they could look at each other, and arched an eyebrow. She looked flushed again and Sansa bit her lip. She was drop dead gorgeous, she felt incredibly lucky. 

“Do you really want to talk? Right now?” 

Sansa answered by kissing her hard. No, she did not want to talk. Not when she could be using those lips for way more entertaining things. 

Sansa would have liked to say that later, when they stopped making out, it had been because of their mutual willpower making them stop. It would have been nice to be able to say that. But the truth was that it had been Margaery’s family arriving to the house what had interrupted them. Screw willpower, Sansa didn’t care about it anymore. If she could spend the day touching, kissing and hugging Margaery… that’s what she’d do. The rest of the things were overrated. 

Except maybe lemon cakes. 

 

When it was time to leave, Margaery, as usual, offered to accompany Sansa to the door. Most days, Sansa refused saying that she could walk herself out, but not that day… Sansa wanted the stolen moments, a few more instants with just the two of them and, who knew, maybe a few more kisses as well. She stopped next to the gates and looked at Margaery, then back at the house. They were considerably far away from it. If she kissed Margaery no one inside would notice. 

“Let me take you on a date.” 

“What?” Sansa’s surprised voice came out higher than usual. She couldn’t believe Margaery had just said that, out of the blue, like it was not a big deal. “A date?” 

“Yes. Tomorrow’s friday, it’s a good day for a date.” 

Those words broke the spell for Sansa. She chuckled. 

“Oh, so _that’s_ why.” Sansa arched her eyebrows, pretending to be annoyed. “Gee, I’m lucky it’s not monday, then. It’s so romantic!” 

Margaery rolled her eyes. “Come on, say yes. You know I would have asked you any day of the week.” 

“If you say so.”

Margaery leaned to kiss her, softly. Sansa grinned afterwards, still getting used to how they could just do that whenever they wanted. What a great feeling.

“Say yes.” 

She shook her head. 

“Make me.” Sansa’s daring tone surprised even herself. 

If the look on Margaery’s face was something to go by, she was going to enjoy “making” Sansa accept that invitation. Her eyes almost sparkled with joy when she pushed Sansa against the stony wall behind her. She kissed the corner of her mouth, her cheek, she traced her jawline with her lips… and Sansa just closed her eyes and let herself feel everything. She sighed when Margaery’s hands started to— 

“Hey, lovebirds.” 

Both of them froze. Margaery dropped her head with an annoyed sigh. When Sansa looked at Loras, he was staring at them with an amused expression on his face. She blushed. 

“ _What?_ ” Margaery almost growled. 

“Hey, mom and dad need our help in the gardens, don’t blame the messenger.” 

He laughed at their expense and Sansa, despite her embarrassment, couldn’t stop herself from looking at the way his curls moved as he shook his head. She could see how he was gorgeous the same way she could appreciate the beauty of a wolf, for example. But that was the end of it, because she felt nothing… nothing at all. And he was Loras Tyrell, he drove both boys and girls crazy… if she were to find herself attracted to boys in general, he would have been perfect. Interesting. Also, she couldn’t believe she had just compared Loras to a wolf, even if it was in her own mind. 

Margaery dismissed her brother and looked apologetically at Sansa. 

“So he knows.” 

“Well. He already knew.” Margaery shrugged. “I’m sorry, I should have told you before.” 

“It’s okay. Arya knows too.” 

Margaery smiled and winked at her. “Siblings, am I right?” 

Sansa laughed and rolled her eyes at the silliness. “I’m leaving… and you should go do your gardening things. Go grow flowers out of thin air.” 

“Yes, because that’s totally what gardening looks like.” 

Relief ran through Sansa. Being able to be silly with Margaery, like they used to be, made her feel like maybe things would be okay. Maybe they wouldn’t mess everything up. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow. For our date.” Although Margaery didn’t ask, her eyes questioned her. 

“Okay… Tomorrow.” Sansa nodded. 

“I’ll let you know the details later.” 

Margaery gave her a quick kiss, squeezing her hand at the same time, before they waved goodbye and parted ways. Sansa turned a couple of times to look at the other girl, grinning when she saw that Margaery was doing the same thing. Idiots. She ended up shrugging, hoping that Margaery would understand what she was trying to say. _Yes, we’re this silly, but who cares? We’re awesome._

Again, Sansa found herself smiling all the way home. If that was going to become a thing, she was completely up for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been wanting to post this since last week but some parts refused to come out! Next one will be up sooner, I hope! :)


	9. Get over here and play a video game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First dates aren't always like one expects.

“I have a date!” 

“Fuck, you’re gonna give me a heart attack!” Arya glared at Sansa, clearly not sharing her enthusiasm. 

She grinned and strode to sit on Arya’s chair, ignoring everything that wasn’t her own happiness. “It’s happening later. I’m nervous and excited and… oh gods, Arya! What will I wear?!” 

Her sister groaned in annoyance. “You can’t be seriously asking me that.” 

“It’s a serious question for a serious matter.” 

It wasn’t, though. Honestly? The only thing that Sansa wanted was to see Arya’s face when she said that sentence. And it worked just like she had predicted, her sister wrinkled her nose and let out an exasperated moan. It was awesome how easy she could annoy her. But hey, Sansa had been dealing with Arya’s comments for years too. They evened out. 

“I couldn’t care less. And, just for the record, I think Margaery won’t care either. You could show up naked and she’d appreciate you the same. Or maybe even more, who knows?” Arya wiggled her eyebrows and winked an eye at her, which made Sansa roll her eyes. 

Sansa thought for a second, really wondering that time. “But it’s a date. One has to look nice, right?” 

“Who has a date?” 

_Gods, no._ Sansa turned around, going from normal to panic in just about a second. Jon was standing next to the door, the same door that she, apparently, forgot to close before gushing about her date with Margaery. Arya put on her poker face and stared at him without saying a word, while Sansa freaked out wondering how she could get out of the situation. 

“Arya.” Sansa answered without even thinking, she wasn’t ready to have that conversation yet. 

“Uhm, no.” Arya looked disgusted. “I don’t.” 

_Damn it, Arya! Take one for the team!_

“O… kay. Now I’m even more curious.” Jon entered the room and lowered his voice like he didn’t want their parents to hear, like it was a secret meeting. “Is Sansa dating someone she shouldn’t?” 

Arya snorted. “You could say that.” 

Sansa moved closer to her so she could slap her arm. “Hey!” 

“I’ll scream if you accepted Joff’s proposal.” 

She scoffed and looked at them in disbelief. “Are you kidding me? That’s what you come up with? Think better of me, for once!” 

“Sansa has better taste than that now, brother.” Arya laughed and winked at him. 

He squinted at his sisters and Sansa could see that there was no way she was getting out of it without telling him. Unless she lied, which was just wrong… and Arya wouldn’t cooperate. No, she knew what she had to do, it was just that a part of her was really scared. She knew it was irrational, that he wouldn’t have a problem with it… that wasn’t the issue. It was just that with every new person that found out about them, things got more serious in a way. It got more official. And she hadn’t really talked with Margaery because, apparently, kissing was more important. Duh. 

“Tell him.” 

“But…” 

“He won’t care.” 

“I’m still in the room, you know?” 

“Just tell him, Sansa!” 

“Who are you dating?!” His frustration was obvious, it would have been funny if Sansa hadn’t been a bit distressed. 

“No one! Yet.” Sansa felt herself blushing, for a change. “I mean, I don’t know. We have a date today, so… we’ll see how it goes.” 

“Today?” Jon frowned, Sansa could see the wheels turning in his head. “But earlier you said…” 

_Yes._ Sansa thought, nodding. _Say it, Jon. Earlier I mentioned that I had plans with Margaery in the evening._

Jon looked at Arya, who was just sitting there looking incredibly smug, then back to her. “Are you serious?”

She shrugged. “Yup.” 

He scratched his beard and suddenly he started to laugh. “Shit! You got me scared for a moment. Well done, sis!” 

He raised his hand to high five her, but Sansa just stared at him with a _“no way”_ expression on her face, so he had to turn to Arya to finish what he started. Sansa almost gaped at them, thinking that the whole thing was extremely weird. 

“Told you he wouldn’t care.” 

“You know, I’ve always been able to picture Margaery with a girl. Like, I thought she’d be fine either way… but I didn’t think you’d be into that too.” 

“Ew, Jon! No one here wants to know about your wank bank.” Arya threw a pillow aiming to his head. She didn’t miss. 

“Gross.” Sansa made a disgusted noise. “TMI.” 

“Hey! You’re twisting my words, that’s so not what I said or even implied!”

Jon got all flustered and Sansa and Arya started laughing at him. Poor guy, he was so well-mannered sometimes, like one of those gentlemen from old movies who opened the door for the ladies. Sometimes. When Robb was involved, though, his sensitivity was forgotten. 

He left the room complaining about his sisters being terrible people, but they followed him all the way to the basement to annoy him a little bit more. Apparently the Stark kids were great doing that to each other, maybe they needed new hobbies. It was working until he mentioned to Arya that they had a platinum trophy to get (whatever that meant). The mention of it trumped everything, so Sansa chose that moment to go upstairs… since Arya was already distracted talking about strategies and whatnot. She had to get ready, after all! 

 

Disappointment. That’s what Sansa felt when Margaery parked the car after a short ride. Meeting, luckily, hadn’t been awkward at all, even though she had only gotten a kiss on the cheek… what was that about? Disappointment was not what she was expecting to feel on her first date with the girl she really, really, _reaaaaaally_ liked. Not at all. Her heart sank when she saw where Margaery was taking her and she tried to push the feelings away, to smile despite not feeling like it… but she couldn’t, not really. Oh gods. What would she do? 

“An arcade?” Sansa frowned, looking at Margaery. She was not amused. She was far from amused. 

“Yup.” Margaery grinned, either oblivious to Sansa’s disappointment or ignoring it while they got out of Margaery’s convertible. 

“I can’t believed you picked an arcade for our first date!” 

Sansa tried to joke about it, maybe if she laughed about it it’d hurt less. She would have been fine with dinner and a movie, even though it was super cliché… why weren’t they doing that? Damn Margaery and her “surprises”. She should have seen it coming… although, how could she? Weren’t dates supposed to be to do things they both enjoyed? And shouldn’t that be easy to do, after being friends with the girl you’re taking on a date for a few years? Ugh. 

“As you might have guessed by now, I kind of love video games.” 

“No! Really?” Sansa rolled her eyes. 

“Yeah, big surprise there, I know. Anyway… I figured that if you’re going to date me—“

“That might be up for discussion now that you’ve brought me here.” _Ha. No way._

“I’ll rephrase that. Since you _are_ going to date me…” Margaery winked at Sansa, who huffed in response. “And on top of that we’re going to be living together… It’s something we need to fix.” 

“You can’t fix something that is not broken. I’m not interested.” 

“Yet.”

“I don’t like video games, Marg.” Sansa sighed. 

The other girl didn’t say a thing, instead she took her hand and dragged her inside building. She was instantly overwhelmed by the sounds and colors and bright lights everywhere. It was like stepping into a different world. It didn’t take her long to realize that they were mostly alone. A few kids running around, with their parents following close… but she didn’t see anyone close to their age range. She wondered why (no, not really). 

Maybe she was overreacting, Sansa thought, while looking at the different machines as Margaery took her… well, she didn’t really know where, some place. Stories had taught her that first dates had to be perfect. The perfect spot. The perfect moment of the day. The perfect plan. But those things often gave unrealistic expectations about life, like for example… the girls from children’s animated movies had amazing hair and no one could expect their own to look like that. If only! People in general (and Sansa in particular) had to get used to the idea that reality was different from fiction, not only when it came to unrealistic hair, but also… maybe… with how first dates weren’t as perfect as one could have initially imagined or hoped. 

Margaery stopped walking and Sansa focused on what she was looking at. Even she knew what was in front of her. 

“Pac-Man?” 

Margaery nodded. 

“Are we playing Pac-Man?” 

“Well, you definitely are.” She nodded towards the machine, softly pushing Sansa towards it. “I get that you don’t enjoy video games, but no one can hate Pac-Man. It’s common knowledge.” 

Sansa opened her mouth to say something, but it turned out that she couldn’t argue with Margaery, at least not about that. Pac-Man was cute and adorable and, even though it pained her to admit it, Margaery was right. Damn her. 

“I knew it!” Margaery laughed and handled Sansa a coin. 

“Oh, don’t get too cocky.” 

Margaery kissed her cheek, which sent shivers through Sansa’s spine. She stared at the coin in her hand. She was nervous, no doubt about it. Something told her that she was going to suck at it and Margaery would laugh at her and… 

“Hey. Remember the Hitchhiker’s Guide? _Don’t panic._ ” 

Sansa smiled at the reference. They had read that book at the same time the first year they met, it was one of the things that brought them together, more or less. The book gave them something to talk about when they still needed an excuse to have a conversation. 

“I’m nervous.” 

“Why?” 

“Because I’m going to be terrible at it.” 

“Nonsense. Besides, what if you do? They’re just “stupid video games”, like you said.” Margaery squeezed her hand softly. “Look, I’ll go get us something to drink and you can start, okay? No pressure, just you and Pac-Man. Try to have fun.”

“No.” Sansa held her hand tighter, before Margaery could make a move. “I want you here.” 

Margaery smiled and stayed. Of course she did. 

They spent a bit more than an hour and a half in there. They played all sorts of games, from classic arcade games to newer ones. Sansa enjoyed some, specially the driving ones, which was a total surprise for both of them. Even the ones that didn’t interest Sansa, not even one bit, she realized that she didn’t care, it was okay. She was with Margaery, after all, and she enjoyed seeing the other girl play because she got really into it, curses and all.

Being with Margaery also meant that from time to time, she’d kiss her cheek (all she had done that day, what was that about?), or she’d rest her head on her shoulder, basically, anytime she touched Sansa, in whatever way she did… that made her forget that she was supposed to hate video games. 

Later, the two of them went to get milkshakes, deciding that they had done enough gaming for the day. Sansa bought a bag of gummy bears to share with Margaery, as a “side dish”. They joked about how they were supposed to be out partying and getting wasted, but instead they were having milkshakes and gummy bears. 

No matter what they were “supposed to be doing”, the truth was that Sansa, despite her initial disappointment, wouldn’t change any of it. And knowing Margaery like she did, she looked happy being there as well (besides, it had been her idea after all…)

“We’re nerds.” Sansa admitted, looking around. The tables were mostly empty, except for a couple of kids with their adult supervisors. “And apparently too old for this.” 

“Too old for this? Never.” 

Once the milkshakes and the gummy bears had been taken care of they decided to get a change of scenery. They had at least a good couple of hours ahead, so the possibilities were endless. 

“Maybe this is going to sound weird.” 

Sansa opened her eyes dramatically. “Oh, dear.” 

“Charming.” Margaery smiled. “Anyway. I was thinking… Maybe we could get this date over with.”

“Okay, that does sound weird.” Sansa frowned slightly. “Am I that terrible?” 

“I’m ignoring that question.” 

“Why, though?”

“I kind of feel like going back to your place to hang out in the Stark Kids’s Den.” 

“You need to stop making up names for us, Marg.” 

“And you need to stop focusing on the details and listen to the general idea, Sans.” 

“You know, that’s why I thought that you were into my brothers. But of course, we can do that, it’ll be nice.” 

Margaery stopped right on her tracks and grabbed Sansa’s forearm. “Wait, can you repeat that? 

“It’ll be nice?” Sansa blushed. 

“Oh, don’t play silly!” Margaery stared at her in amused disbelief. “You thought I liked your brothers? Not one, but the two of them?

“I had my reasons, okay?” Sansa walked away, hoping she could get 

“Are you kidding me? That is absolutely priceless!” Margaery followed her, laughing. 

“Well… You were all over them, with the video games and stuff.” 

“I was all over you, you idiot.” 

Sansa stopped right on her tracks, grinning. “Were you, though?” 

“Yes, of course I was. And honestly? I just like your family, I don’t know why I have to defend myself.” Margaery shook her head. “They’ve always been nice to me and, I don’t know, I wanted to get along with them, not just in case this happened bu—” 

“Wait!” Sansa’s blush deepened. “You thought about this before? About us?” 

Margaery laughed softly. “That’s a story for some other day.” 

“No! You can’t just tell me tha—” 

She could. Margaery stole a kiss from a pleasantly surprised Sansa and words were quickly forgotten. _Finally._ She had missed the feeling. 

 

Maybe it was weird to end a date like that, maybe it wasn’t. For Sansa it was just natural progression. Why shouldn’t they hang out in the place where they had spent countless hours, all those years? It just made a lot of sense, and Sansa was happy that Margaery suggested it in the first place. 

Her parents weren’t home and Jon was the only one in the basement. His face lit when he saw the two girls enter the room. Awkward much? 

“Hey, Jon.”

Her brother replied with a goofy grin and a simple “hello”, but it was enough for Margaery to turn towards her with an arched eyebrow, of course she had noticed (did anything get past that girl? Gods!) Sansa shrugged apologetically. With the date and everything she forgot to let her know that Jon found out about them. Oh well. It could have been worse… at least he was just acting silly. 

They sat on the couch like they always did, next to each other and with their shoulders touching, talking about random things… Everything was like normal, except that she could feel a difference. Although maybe it was only because Jon would glance at them from time to time, smiling like an idiot. He was anything but subtle and Sansa rolled her eyes. If only he could focus on the documentary he was watching and leave them alone…

Any excuse was a good excuse if it got her get closer to Margaery (Gods, she wanted to kiss her so bad), that’s why she leaned towards her to whisper an apology for her brother’s behavior. 

“No, no… he’s kind of adorable.” Margaery laughed softly, dismissing her apology. “And I hope you know that I say this in the most platonic way, I mean, I don’t want him.” 

“I shouldn’t have told you!” 

Margaery laughed again, but louder, and just for that it was worth it. That was, of course, until Margaery turned to his brother, who was sprawled on the other couch looking at the tv. 

“Hey, Jon!” 

“No.” Sansa knew where she was going to say, and she wasn’t going to allow it. “Don’t you dare.” 

“… She told me earlier…” 

“Margaery. I’m warning you. Don’t.” 

The smirk on the other girl’s face made Sansa realize that there was no way she wasn’t tell him, no matter what Sansa said or how much she complained… so she did the only thing that she could think of, in order to stop her from doing so. She threw herself on top of Margaery, trying to cover her mouth with her own hands. She didn’t want her telling Jon about her jealousy, even though she was sure he already knew. But it was mortifying and that’s not how she wanted to end that perfect evening, all embarrassed and stuff. 

Sansa started tickling her, knowing for a fact that it was the best way to shut her up. There had been precedents during their friendship, the knowledge helped. She was right, because the moment she started tickling her, Margaery started wriggling, trying to get out of Sansa’s dangerous embrace while giggling and kicking around. Her laugh was contagious and Sansa couldn’t stop herself from joining, having the time of her life. 

“Get a room, you two.” 

When Sansa looked up she saw Arya and Robb, looking amused. Margaery used the distraction to get away from her, moving to the other couch and sitting next to Jon. She fixed her hair and the clothes, shaking her head. Her cheeks were all flushed and Sansa thought she looked annoyingly sexy. 

Jon waved at his siblings. “Hey, come and join us! Marg was about to tell us a story.” 

“Fuck you, Jon!” Sansa groaned and threw him one of the cushions from the couch. 

He huffed when it hit his chest. No matter what she did, Margaery told them what she had just found out, to Sansa’s mortification. It was a very natural way of letting Robb know that they were dating… although he got quite a shock from the news. Sansa felt kind of bad, if he really thought that Margaery had liked him… it would suck to realize that no, she was really interested in his sister. 

“I did not see this coming.” He said, simply. 

Margaery, who had once again moved next to Sansa, before she told them the story, held her hand. She was glad for that, she loved how their fingers entwined and how Margaery softly rubbed her thumb against hers. 

Not a long time afterwards, Sansa decided to give her siblings some privacy so they could gossip about them, as she knew they’d do. It was what they did when they were introduced to the others’ partners. 

The stairs that led to her room reminded Sansa that it was the first time after the first kiss that they were going to be in there, together and alone. Did she trust herself with Margaery in her own room? She hoped, because her family was around and they had a thing for not knocking on the doors before opening them. That’s why she chose one of their all time favorite (and safe) pastimes: lying in bed listening to music and just talking about random things. Pretty mild for what Sansa had in mind, but one had to adapt to the situation. 

Except that Margaery seemed to have different plans. 

She kissed her in the middle of a Florence + the Machine song, not caring for all the things that worried Sansa. And if Margaery didn’t care, why did she have to? She kissed recklessly, just wanting to feel it all. 

“Fuck.” Margaery moaned against her mouth. 

Sansa smiled, pleased with that reaction. She felt drunk on happiness, on life, she was ecstatic. And that made her daring, bolder. 

“Well, not yet… but you just wait." Sansa whispered and Margaery made an unidentified sound as response. 

“Sansa Stark!” Margaery looked a bit flushed. That was a first. 

The way she was staring at her made Sansa feel self conscious all of a sudden, knowing that she’d have to pay for her teasing later, and not minding one bit. If she was honest with herself, she had been giving quite some thought to the idea of having sex with Margaery. It was a definitely a possibility… right? Gods, she hoped. She really, absolutely hoped it was something that would happen in the not so distant future. They weren’t strangers to each other, they had known one another for a long time and they were grown ups, waiting was overrated, in her opinion… there was no point on doing that. Did the thought make her nervous? Hells, yes. Did she care, at that point? No… 

“Okay… Can I be extremely sappy?” A change of subject was what they needed in that moment, and Sansa had to improvise. 

Margaery arched an eyebrow (gods, Sansa loved when she did that. She loved it). “Go on. Surprise me.” 

“I learned something from first dates today.” Sansa entwined her fingers in Margaery’s curls, trying to find the best words for what she wanted to say. “I’ve realized that I don’t need the perfect place or the perfect anything… since I’ve already have the perfect girl.” 

For a second they just looked at each other… until Margaery’s lip started to tremble and she finally broke into laughter. Sansa covered her face with her hands, embarrassment taking over her feelings. What had possessed her to say that? (Even though she thought it was one of the truest statements she could ever say) At least it helped with the whole “turn on” situation they had going on before. 

“Oh, boy. That _was_ sappy!”

Sansa groaned. “Whatever. I’m not going to talk ever again.” 

“Sure you are… because I wouldn’t have it any other way. Sappy and awesome, Sans.” Margaery giggled when she hugged her and kissed her temple. “I love it.”

_And I love you._

Sansa stiffened at her own thought. No. Just… no. It was too early. 

Too fucking early.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So fluff happened... and my holidays are over, meaning that I have less time to write... which really translates into more inspiration... it never fails! so it's going to be good. On top of that, I don't have internet at home so... yay! No distractions. Expect new stuff next week :)


	10. It's better than I ever even knew

Her world was changing. Sansa was amazed of how some of the most simple and natural things, like walking next to Margaery downtown, were becoming a bit challenging. Sansa was constantly aware of her, and when she was next to Margaery it was like her presence was too much, impossible to ignore. Her body craved and demanded contact. Any kind of contact, really. Like when her hand had brushed Margaery’s, the brief touch made her almost lose her step. She had felt extremely dumb, it was the kind of thing that she hated to read on books. Oh, how stupid those characters had seemed before! Main characters who didn’t know how to behave when they were near their romantic interests. Then she became one of them. _Good job_ , she thought. 

What surprised her the most, though, was how it didn’t use to happen before, but after the kiss and everything that came afterwards, it all had changed. It was obvious, of course, but at the same time… Margaery was still Margaery. 

“My parents are throwing their End of Summer party next week.” Yes, she was going to keep her brain occupied with conversations, that way she wouldn’t have time to think too much. 

“Ah, that’s great! How’s it called this time?” 

Sansa smiled. Margaery might had never been to one of those parties, but she had heard everything about them. Not just because Sansa told her (which she had) but also because her siblings, and even her parents, had mentioned it more than once. It was known too, even to Margaery, that Ned Stark was a huge fan of giving said parties “interesting” names. 

“It’s terrible, but you’re going to love it… _Winter is coming_.” 

“No way!” Margaery laughed. “Your dad’s amazing, Sans.” 

“Of course you’d think that. You both have the same crappy sense of humor.” 

Margaery exaggerated a surprised gasp. “I can’t believe you just said that.” 

Sansa smiled and dismissed the complaint with a hand gesture. “Anyway, you and your family are invited, of course.” 

A hum escaped from Margaery’s lips, and after a couple of seconds she talked. “I hope we can make it.” 

Sansa frowned, she wanted Margaery there. “Why wouldn’t you? Where are you going?” 

“No, no… why wouldn’t _we_.” The smirk on Margaery’s face told Sansa that she was enjoying her confused look, maybe even a little bit too much. “I thought of something, Sans. It may be a little crazy, but fun things usually are, right?” 

The crazy idea that Margaery had, as she explained it to Sansa in a very enthusiastic way, was to go from Winterfell to King’s Landing to (finally!) find an apartment they could live in. By car. Margaery wanted a road trip. A two days drive there, at least, if nothing happened, which would leave them with a couple of days in the city before having to return to Winterfell. Right in time for the party, she said, because she didn’t want to miss that chance. 

Sansa’s only thought was “a week of alone time with Margaery”. Where did she have to sign!? She didn’t care if it was too much driving, or the fact that they’d have to leave the next day if they didn’t want to mess with the schedule that Margaery had presented, she just saw all the opportunities and… 

“Let’s do this!” She grinned, feeling as excited as Margaery. 

“Really?” 

“Yes, really!” 

Margaery let out a squeal of joy and hugged Sansa. Someone walking behind them complained when they almost collided with the abrupt stop, but Sansa didn’t care. The warmth of the embrace invaded her, reassuring Sansa. “It’s going to be okay”, it said. Yes, yes it was going to be okay. It had to. What could be wrong with spending one week with the girl that she had just realized she loved? 

They kept walking, talking about the places they could visit on their way to King’s Landing, making plans, daydreaming… and then they decided to sit down for a bit in a nice café they found. Sansa wanted lemon cakes to celebrate, and Margaery happily obliged. 

A couple of lemon cakes later and while they were still drinking their iced coffees, Margaery started a new conversation. 

“By the way, I think the dating thing isn’t going to work.” 

Sansa almost choked on her drink. She stared at Margaery, dazed. Where was that coming from? 

“Shit, I’m sorry.” Margaery looked as surprised as Sansa, then her expression turned to an apologetic one. “I think that the wording was terrible.” 

Yes, apparently Sansa’s reaction had been that obvious. “You _think_?” 

“It made sense in my head because I had been thinking about it and… I didn’t realize you weren’t in there with me.” 

Sansa glared at her. “Terrible excuse.” 

“Okay, okay, but let me explain better.” She made an apologetically gesture, again. “What I meant is that I don’t think the dating is going to work for us, because we already know each other pretty well and dating is mostly to know each other, right? Before getting together-together.” 

“I guess…?” _Oh gods_. It was happening. 

“I hope you see where I’m going with this.” 

Sansa bit her lip and smiled. “I wouldn’t want to assume.” 

“Oh, come on! Is this my punishment for accidentally messing with you?”

Sansa shrugged and gave her a boisterous grin. Although she was kind of joking, she also wanted to hear it from Margaery. Partly because it’d be nice to hear, but mostly because she felt a bit shy about mentioning it herself… even if, by that point, they seemed to be on the same page. Yup, she was being a big coward. 

“Picture this, Sansa. The semester starts, we go to uni, we meet for lunch after our classes end and… there you are! With a friend. Or I’m there with a classmate, that’s not the point.” Apparently Margaery wan’t going to be direct, either. “Either way, we’re there, and I don’t know who the person next to you is, so when you start introducing us you say something like “this is Margaery, my…” and then there’s that awkward moment where you don’t know what I am to you anymore. Because, really, what are we, Sansa?” 

The way Margaery stared at her, with such an intensity that almost burned her skin, sent shivers through her spine. 

“Yes… It’s something I-I’ve wondered.” Sansa stammered a bit. 

“Exactly. And I don’t want the awkward pause. I want us to know what we are, Sansa. I want you…” Margaery paused her speech to take a deep breath. “I want you to be able to say “this is Margaery, my girlfriend”… if that’s what you want from me, of course.” 

_More than you know_ , Sansa thought. 

She smiled, a it wasn’t until she saw Margaery’s arched eyebrow that she realized that she hadn’t replied yet. 

“I do.” Sansa smiled shyly. “I want that.” 

Margaery’s grin would be the death of her, Sansa thought. She’d do anything, anytime, just to see it, and in that moment it was the brightest she had ever seen. Sansa almost couldn’t believe she was the cause of Margaery’s happiness. It seemed unreal. 

“Will you freak out if I kiss you now?” 

Sansa wrinkled her nose, pretending to be weighing the options. After one second, she shook her head, back to smiling. “Nu-uh. So you better get to it… girlfriend.” 

Margaery was still laughing softly when their lips met. It was blissful, even though it was only for the briefest of seconds. But in that short time she was kissing her girlfriend. Sansa had a girlfriend! _Hah! Take that, world._

When Margaery pulled away, was looking at her with that spark in her eyes, the mischievous one, and Sanas rolled her eyes. “Now what?” 

“I think we should head back so we can start packing! I’ll share with you the list of things we might need, I made it last night hoping you’d want to come.” 

“Did you worry I’d say no?” 

“Oh, please. I’m irresistible.”. 

“Idiot.” Sansa laughed. 

Margaery just wiggled her eyebrows. “ _Your_ idiot now, so joke’s on you, Sansa Stark.” 

 

_Marg marg marg marg marg… marg! You around???_

_I’m scared to say yes…_

_I need to tell my parents._

_Tell them what?_

_About us! I was goinna talk to them about the road trip but… I think I need to tell them about us too! DDDD:_

_Okay… don’t panic! If you need to tell them it’s because deep down you know that they’ll be okay with it._

_Do you really think so??_

_Of course it will! :)_

_How do you know for sure? How can you?_

_Your parents are great and they love you. Besides, they love me too… I’m quite a catch!_

_Aren’t you supposed to make *me* feel better instead of flattering yourself? ;)_

_What can I say? Us Tyrell are vain like that. ((But really, Sans, it’s gonna be 100% okay! Call me when you’re done. I’ll stop by if you want))_

 

Sansa’s fingers fidgeted with the hem of her t-shirt, nervous about how she was going to start _that_ conversation with her parents. She walked down the stairs the same way she’d walk to the gallows. Okay, maybe she was exaggerating, but she felt pretty anxious. 

Her parents were on the couch, talking softly and with content smiles on their faces. Her father was rubbing her mom’s feet and she had her eyes closed. They were the picture of happiness, and Sansa worried she’d make them feel any different after her announcement. 

“Mom, dad… I have to talk to you.” 

Her mom opened her eyes slowly and her dad stopped what he was doing. They both turned to her, both looking at her with curiosity and caution. Mostly caution. 

“You realize how bad that sounds, don’t you?”

Sansa remembered the conversation she had with Margaery earlier and looked at them with a guilty expression. She muttered and apology and thought that, well, now she understood Margaery much better. 

“It’s nothing bad, I promise. I just have a few things I’d like to talk to you about.”

“You’re not making it any better.” Her dad joked and her mom smiled, nodding. 

Sansa hoped she could get over the conversation as soon as possible, because it was becom—

“Hey, everyone!” 

_Great timing, little sister_. Sansa turned to Arya, who waved from the doorway. They greeted her. Some with less love than others, because Sansa just glared at Arya hoping that she would understand what was going on. 

“What’s going on with you all? All the long faces…” 

“Your sister’s trying to tell us something.”

“Yes, I was… until you arrived.” Subtle. 

“Oh.” Arya nodded, and then she opened her eyes dramatically. “OH!” 

Sansa sighed. “Arya, could you let me talk to mom and dad for a minute?” 

“But why can’t I stay? I want to know too!” 

If looks could kill… Maybe, probably, her mistake had been to ask Arya to leave. That’s what she shouldn’t have done. Her sister was stubborn like that, and she liked to annoy her more than anything. 

“Go play some video games, for gods’ sake!” She’d kill her sister. She’d definitely kill her.

Arya laughed and ran towards Sansa. She gave her a quick hug and whispered a “good luck” in her ear. When she left, Sansa felt even more nervous than before, if that was possible, but she was glad for the hug. It gave her the strength to stay there instead of running away. And also, the hug made her decide to spare her little sister’s life. 

One deep breath later, she finally spoke. 

“I’m going on a road trip with Marg. To King’s Landing. To look for an apartment.” Sansa spoke in short sentences because apparently the nerves made her unable to elaborate more. 

“That’s what, a two days drive?” Her mother asked, curiously. 

“Luckily, yes.” Sansa smiled. “It’s kind of crazy, but it’s our way of saying goodbye to the summer too. And if we leave tomorrow, we could go back in time for the _Winter is coming_ party.” 

“I see. Where would you sleep?” 

“Motels, I guess? I don’t know.” She shrugged. “We haven’t figured much yet. We’ll meet later to discuss all these things.” 

Sansa looked at her dad, who hadn’t made any comment yet. 

“Dad?” 

She had predicted that outcome, she knew what her dad’s reaction would be. That had been the only thing she knew for sure of the whole conversation. He wouldn’t like that idea one bit, which was understandable because, after all, he had lost one of his best and oldest friends in a car accident just a few years ago. Sansa still remembered the shock of the news. How she got home from high school to her mother hugging him while he shook his head and said things like “No. It can’t be true.” 

“I think it’s too much driving.” He spoke, finally. 

“I know. But Margaery is a great driver and her convertible is in great shape.” She smiled, hoping that he’d warm up to the idea. “Besides, I’ll drive too and you know I’m the most prudent driver ever!” 

_And neither of us drink and drive_ , she thought too. But Sansa wouldn’t say that to her father. He didn’t need a reminder of how it had been Robert, not the other driver, who had been drunk that evening. That he had been the one invading the other lane, the one who killed not only himself but two other passengers. No… he didn’t need a reminder of that. Neither of them did. 

“As long as you keep us updated and you call us if anything happens…”

“When have I not?” 

“Well, you’re going to do whatever you want to do, and there’s nothing we can do to stop you so… let me know if you need anything and we’ll find it later. What time will you leave tomorrow?” 

And just like that, it was settled. Sansa grinned. At least the first part had been easy. 

“In the morning, I assume.” She replied, guessing. And then, taking all the courage she had been gathering during the conversation, she knew she had to finish what she had started. “I, uh… I have something else I’d like to tell you.” 

The worry on her parent’s faces came back. They had felt more at ease after she mentioned the road trip, clearly thinking that it was all that Sansa wanted to discuss with them. Would they think she was about to tell them she was pregnant or something? The thought made Sansa smile, but then she realized that she was about to come out to them and the anxiety kicked back in. Yay, roller coaster of emotions! 

“I’m going out with someone. I didn’t see it coming and… and… now that it has happened it makes sense and I hope it’ll be okay with you, because I’m so, so happy. And I-I just—” Sansa took yet another deep breath. She could hear her hart beating, so loud that she imagined that her parents must be hearing it as well. “I know it might be too soon and everything, but who cares, really? I… I love her.” 

There. She said it. And suddenly, she realized that to her the most important part of that speech had been admitting that she was in love, not the fact that it was with a girl. She had just admitted out loud that she loved Margaery! Despite all the alarms going off in her head, her inner voices telling her that it was way too soon, that she needed more time, that she couldn’t love her just like that… She had said it. And not so surprisingly… it felt absolutely great. 

When she finally looked at her parents she saw surprise, which was expected. She was glad to notice, though, that they didn’t look surprised in a bad way. That was definitely a good start!

“Her?” Ned scratched his beard. “As in… a girl.” 

“Yes.” Sansa blushed. _A girl_. 

“Margaery.” Her mother stated it like it was obvious. “It’s her, isn’t it?” 

Sansa nodded, wondering if it was obvious or if her mom had just put two and two together. Margaery was, after all, the only girl outside the family that she had been seeing during the holidays. Her dad looked at Sansa’s reaction with a puzzled expression. Maybe it had been obvious to her mother, but to him… it clearly hadn’t. 

“Oh, Sansa. That’s great news!” Her mother smiled affectionately. “She’s a good girl, and she’s always been so smitten with you.”

“I can’t believe our daughter’s dating Margaery Tyrell…” Ned was the one who looked more shocked of the two of them. He wasn’t looking at Sansa directly, he was immersed in his own thoughts. “What will Olenna say?” 

“Do they know? Her family.” Catelyn asked, cautiously. 

“As far as I know, they don’t. I mean, Loras knows, but… not her parents.” Sansa glanced at her dad. “Nor her grandma.” 

“Our ancestors would be proud of you, Sansa. Now you have the chance to marry someone rich and influential.” 

“Wow, dad.” 

“I think he’s trying to say he approves.” Catelyn said, shaking her head and smiling. “Come here, Sansa.” 

When her mother hugged her, relief ran through Sansa, her worries washing away with every passing second she was in that embrace. Her family supported her, everything was fine and there were no other things troubling her life. Other than getting a damn apartment in the city, of course… but that would be fixed soon. 

“You’re lucky she’s a girl Sansa. There’s no way you would have gone to that road trip with a boy.” Her father’s eyes told her he was joking, and Sansa laughed. 

She grinned. “As if you could have stopped me…” 

“That’s no proper way of talking to your father, young lady!” 

She typed a quick text to Margaery while she was still talking to her parents. 

_Told them and they’re okay with it! YAY!_

When minutes later her phone vibrated on her pocket, she tried to read the answer subtlety. 

_Aw, Sans! That’s awesome <3 Celebration in a couple of hours? Y/Y? _

_So many choices… guess I’ll say yes! See you soon, miss you :)_

When she put it back on her pocket she realized that her mother was looking at her grinning and Sansa suddenly became self aware of how she had been smiling the whole time she had been typing, too. 

“Mom, stop that!” Sansa groaned and hid her face in her hands.

“So cute, Ned. Isn’t she cute? Our little girl, in love!” 

Seven hells, maybe telling them hadn’t been such a good idea. 

 

When the doorbell rang a couple of hours later, Sansa looked at her watch and then at her dad, who was in the living room with her. She knew it was Margaery at the door, but she hadn’t expected her dad to be there with her. Awkward. 

“Is that Margaery?” He asked, as if he had read her mind. 

“Yes, we’re going to plan a bit of the road trip.” 

Her father didn’t say anything. Instead, he got up and walked with decision towards the hall. Sansa, too shocked at first to understand what was happening, jumped from the couch and followed him a bit too late. He got to the door before her, and when she arrived, her father was already eyeing Margaery with a somber look on his face. 

She didn’t like what she was seeing, not one bit. Panic, that’s what she felt. What was all that about, though!? He hadn’t said anything negative about it! He even joked about them! So… why was he looking at Margaery like that? 

“Margaery.” 

“Mr. Stark.” 

Sansa noticed how Margaery’s voice was calm, composed… and too formal. Too damn formal when it came to her father and Margaery. They were always joking around, being silly, laughing… So she must have noticed too. But who wouldn’t, really? His look was somehow scary. 

“Don’t _Mr. Stark_ me.” 

Okay, now his look wasn’t the only scary thing. Margaery gave Sansa a quick glance, she looked as surprised as Sansa was. 

“Listen closely.” His voice was low and deep and Sansa gulped, he pointed an accusing finger to her. “Think twice about what your intentions with my daughter are, because if you get her pregnant I’ll make you marry her.” 

For a couple of seconds the three of them stayed silent and still, like they had been frozen. Then her dad’s laugh echoed through the hall and broke the spell. 

“Oh my gods, dad!” Sansa slapped his arm, once she recovered from the initial shock.

“Gee…” Margaery pretende to dry the sweat from her forehead. “You got me there, Mr. Stark.” 

“It was the one and only chance I’d have to do this, you have to understand.” He hugged Sansa. “I almost give my daughter a heart attack.”

“Yeah… Thanks for nothing.” 

After a few more nervous laughs, Sansa took Margaery’s hand and dragged her to her room. She saw her dad shake his head and laugh, he was probably going to tell her mom right away and they’d laugh at their expense. Good parenting!

Once they got to the room, with the door safely closed behind them, Sansa exhaled loudly, and Margaery just laughed, still nervous. 

“Your dad has a wicked sense of humor.” 

“Gods, it was terrifying! Did you see the look on his face?” 

“Did I see it? He was directing it at me!” Margaery shivered dramatically, probably thinking how crazy everything had been. “Hello, by the way.” 

“Hello.” Sansa gave her a lazy smile and put her arms around Margaery’s neck. “You’re cute.” 

“Oh, shush.” Closing the gap, Margaery kissed her languidly. Sansa felt herself relax, at ease, the joke already forgotten. That’s what Margaery did to her. She pulled away after a bit and stared into Sansa’s eyes. “How are you? How was it?” 

“It was fine. I was nervous and awkward, but it was fine in the end.” 

Margaery hugged her, nuzzling her neck and when she talked, in a low voice, it almost sounded like a purr. “My girl’s a true northerner, so brave.” 

Shivers were sent through her body. Margaery had never referred to her as “hers”, not like that. Sansa knew her cheeks were on fire, and she wished that they would have been on their road trip already because… well, the thoughts she was having weren’t appropriate for her parents’ house. She wasn’t as brave as Margaery thought. 

There was a knock on the door. “Yo, girls! Can I come in or are you naked or something?”

Sansa rolled her eyes and moved to sit on the bed, tugging at Margaery to follow her.

“Yes, we are. And let me tell you this Arya, your sister looks magnificent.” 

“Margaery!” Sansa sent her a chastising look, hoping it would disguise the warmth that had invaded her. 

“Ew, perverts.” Arya opened the door, a grin on her face. 

Once inside, she proceeded to sit on the floor with the back on the door, facing the couple on the bed. “Dad told me about your road trip, is it true?” 

“Her idea.” Sansa nodded towards Margaery. 

“Wow, that’s awesome. I wish I could go with you… but don’t worry, I won’t ask. You two are in need of some privacy, I bet.” 

Sansa’s cheeks were on fire, weren’t they? They felt like that. “You and your inappropriate comments, Arya!” 

“Actually, I came to offer something. And it’s not condoms, so relax.”

Margaery snorted, but she said nothing. She took Sansa’s hand on hers, instead, and she stroke her thumb along her palm. 

“Why on earth would you give us condoms?”

“As as joke. Duh.” Arya rolled her eyes. “But anyway, do you have a playlist for the car already? Because you better get something good for a long ass trip like that. I can lend you a couple of USBs, if you want.”

“Oh that’d be perfect! I can cross that one off our list now.” Margaery grabbed her phone with her free time, ready edit the To Do List she had created (and shared with Sansa). 

“No, you can’t. She has terrible taste when it comes to music.” Sansa took Margaery’s hand, preventing that from happening. 

Arya looked at her feigning annoyance. “Like you’re a good judge for that, you and your emo songs.” 

“They’re not emo!” 

The sisters bickered back and forth, while Margaery just shook her head and let them be. She took Sansa’s laptop and started googling things. From time to time she’d mutter things like “the only one doing something useful here” but the two sisters dismissed her comments and kept arguing, playfully. Sansa didn’t even want to think about how in less than two weeks she wouldn’t be seeing Arya every day anymore. If she didn’t think about it, it didn’t exist. 

So when Arya left, they started organizing for real that time. It was hard, keeping their hands to themselves, but step by step they started figuring things out, like how much distance they could travel in one day, places where they could stop, cities and villages that they could visit… They weren’t booking anything because their plan was to see where the road took them, but at the same time, it was nice to know a few things that they could do, in case of need. 

 

They had been looking for random items, things that Margaery didn’t have at home, when she had to go ask her mother for help. She always knew where things were, it was a mother thing, she thought, an amazing trait. 

While she went to the basement, Margaery stayed with her mother talking about the trip and Sansa worried that the conversation between them would take an awkward turn, that’s why she ran downstairs. Then again, when she heard the voices on the way up, she started to walk slowly, because suddenly she wanted to listen to the conversation between the two of them (yes, she was that kind of person).

“There’s no way they’ll win the election.” Her mother was saying. 

“The campaign is only beginning. Give them time, they’ll recover.” 

“You think? After all the scandals, I find it difficult to believe.” 

“You forget that the voters have short term memory.” Margaery commented. “That’s why politicians lie so much, because they can and no one cares. Most people don’t care if the politicians they’re about to vote for were saying the completely opposite thing of what they defend now.”

“I leave for one minute and you’re already discussing politics?” Sansa couldn’t resist anymore. Politics bored the hell out of her, which was going to be challenging since it was her girlfriend’s career. 

The two women turned to her, smiling. Sansa showed them the lantern making a “success!” gesture. 

“Consider yourself lucky I’m not showing Margaery your baby pictures.” 

“You call that lucky?” Sansa scoffed. “The only reason you can’t show her is because you already did it!” 

Her mother couldn’t argue with that because, no matter how much it pained Sansa, Margaery had already seen all her pictures from the moment she was born to her teenage years (and boy, had those been awkward). She still remembered the embarrassment she felt when her parents decided to show their childhood albums to Margaery, one rainy afternoon at least two years ago. The shyness she felt morphed into… what had it been? Warmth? Maybe. The way that Margaery looked at every picture with rapt attention, asking questions and hearing the stories behind them… she had been genuinely interested, not just looking for a story she could laugh about with her. That’s why her embarrassment had stopped, because it wouldn’t have a reason to be. 

Those memories made Sansa frown a little. She glanced towards Margaery, feeling like she had just figured out where to put the last pieces of a puzzle. She remembered how before their date Margaery mentioned something, something that had made Sansa wonder if maybe she had liked her for longer than she imagined. But it was impossible, right? She couldn’t have liked her for two years. That was crazy. That was… 

Margaery looked at her and arched an eyebrow, silently asking Sansa if everything was okay. She smiled awkwardly and nodded, hoping she wouldn’t be acting too weird, hoping that they wouldn’t notice how fast her heart was beating, all of a sudden. Luckily for her, Margaery said that it was time for her to leave and finish packing. 

“I’ll be here at ten, okay?” She said, while she grabbed the things they were already taking to the car. 

“And I’ll be ready and waiting.” 

“Thanks for the help, Cat.” Margaery nodded, since her hands were occupied, and smiled. 

Her mother returned the smile, a big warm one. “Welcome to the family, Margaery.” 

Margaery looked shy, fighting to fit all the bags in one hand just so she could squeeze Sansa’s, and then she chastely kissed her cheek. They were under her mother’s observant eyes, neither of them was ready to do more than that. 

“See you in a bit.” She whispered in her ear, before turning away . 

Sansa and her mother watched her go, but only one of them was left wondering how to get rid of the feeling of uneasiness growing in her chest. After all, she had a road trip to attend. Damn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to post this way sooner, but this is the second version I write because I was so not happy with the original one... so I deleted it and started from scratch, sorry about that! :( (That plus... my new teaching position is a lot more demanding than I had anticipated!) 
> 
> Also, I (we?) have to thank my flatmate for watching Big Brother (spanish edition) It made me go get my headphones and write so I could escape from that, lol. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy! (And as always, my fic... my mistakes!)


	11. I just ride

Like a Christmas morning, she woke up feeling overexcited, she didn’t even need her alarm. Sansa woke up fifteen minutes before it had been scheduled to go off. Looking around her room, her eyes lingered on her bags, all packed and ready for the moment when Margaery would arrive. She couldn’t help but smile, she was about to embark in an epic journey! 

Downstairs she ate breakfast because she knew she had to, and mostly because her family was there with her, but her mind was elsewhere. She kept looking at her phone to check for the time every five minutes (sometimes four), she was _that_ excited. Sansa noticed the glances that her family exchanged between each other, and for once she felt proud of those, unlike back in the days where she had been avoiding Margaery. The looks they were exchanging that morning were the good kind, the kind that said “wow, look at how happy and excited she is”, and that was fine by her. _Stare all you want_ , she thought. 

When she finally heard the engine of Margery’s green convertible approaching (maybe, probably, the only engine in the world she recognized by its sound) Sansa ran outside. Towards the car. Towards her. 

With a bit of slow motion, Sansa thought, the sight of Margaery getting out of the car would have been ideal for a numerous kind of advertisements. From fashionable clothes, to sunglasses, to hair products… She was impossibly gorgeous (thank gods for low cut shirts). There was no slo-mo, though, the marvelous sight was hers and hers only. 

“Miss Stark, the journey to find the perfect apartment starts now…” Margaery used her best news anchor voice, one that Sansa had heard many times over the years. “How do you feel about it?” 

“I feel like I could burst from excitement, Miss Tyrell.” She replied, in a very posh voice. 

“Please, tell us more… after the commercial break.” Margaery then proceeded to kiss Sansa in a movie like move, exaggerating everything the same way they did in the old movies. Sansa played her part, hugging Margaery’s neck, closing her eyes and letting the feeling invade her whole body… until the sound of the door opening made them break the kiss away. Oh, short lived bliss. 

“Keep it in your pants, girls.” 

Arya was carrying a couple of Sansa’s bags and Margaery went off to help her, leaving Sansa a bit stunned (Margaery’s kisses, tho!) her parents and her brothers came out of the house next. She was going to get a big goodbye, just as she was expecting and hoping for, too. 

Jon, Robb and her dad started talking about car stuff, enjoying the sight that was Margaery’s convertible, and Sansa rolled her eyes thinking “boys being boys”. Although the truth was that Arya could kick ass in any “know your cars” competition among her family. How was did she manage to get so clever over the years? 

Her sister, oblivious to Sansa’s thoughts, was organizing the trunk, probably pretending that it was a Tetris game. Ugh! What was she doing, making video games references? _This is bad, Sansa, very bad_. Then, next to the car, her mother and Margaery talked about the routes they would be taking. 

In that moment, Sansa could only stare and take everything in. It was kind of surreal, a few weeks ago she had been single, spending her holidays with her family and her amazing best friend, enjoying the nice weather, being content doing pretty much nothing and just hanging out with said people… Then all of a sudden her amazing best friend had morphed into her girlfriend (she was going to ignore the dark period in between) and everyone from her family had been accepting and supportive of them, and of the transition from one thing to another. Seeing them all just hang out before the road trip made Sansa feel grateful for all the good things in her life, as corny as it sounded. 

When they were ready to get going, Sansa hugged everyone goodbye and so did Margaery. Her father gave them yet another quick lecture about road safety and the girls promised that they’d be the most careful drivers that ever existed (literal words, said by Sansa. Margaery just nodded along). 

Sansa got in the car thinking that they were about to embark in an amazing quest. Not just a quest to find the best apartment ever but also to come back in time for the _Winter is coming_ party. Odds looked good, but one never knew what kind of surprises would be waiting for them around the corner. She hoped that the apartment hunt would be quick, because Margaery had already made an appointment with the one they had loved - and hadn’t been rented yet- and she wanted it. She wanted it. 

The engine roared back to life and Sansa waved goodbye to her family. Margaery squeezed her free hand, looking at her from behind the big sunglasses. Sansa grinned, she’d leave the kissing for later, for a moment where her whole family wasn’t staring and waving. No matter how supportive they were… she wasn’t going to put on a show for them. 

The weather was so nice that Margaery put the top down. Their hair would soon be a mess, but who cared? It was worth it, definitely. Music started playing and Sansa waved one last time at her family, sending kisses and mouthing a “love you all!” to them. 

And just like that, they were on the road. 

 

Sansa had always found fascinating how the landscape changed from city to city. That was one of the reasons she had loved the idea of going on a road trip with Margaery, besides the obvious one which was spending whole days together and all alone. 

She enjoyed looking at the horizon, at the mountains and valleys and plains that they were driving past, noticing how the colors changed subtlety as they moved away from Winterfell. At first it wasn’t that obvious, but after two hours and a half of driving south, they started to see some brown patches in the middle of all the green. That saddened Sansa, who knew that once they arrived to King’s Landing less than two days later the landscape would be anything but green. It was such a shame that one of the best universities was in such a desert-like place. Maybe it was because she had spent all her life surrounded by green fields and forests and lots of rain, but even after three years she still wasn’t used to the lack of vegetation in King’s Landing. 

Margaery poked her thigh, forcing Sansa to abandon her thoughts for a bit. 

“Talk to me…” She said, poking her leg again. 

“ _You_ talk to me!” 

“I’m bored and I’m driving. You need to entertain me.” 

“Oh, is that so?” 

“Yup. You’re riding shotgun, it’s one of the duties and responsibilities.” 

Sansa snorted, she wasn’t going to bother arguing with her because she was sure that Margaery could find some strange website that listed “shotgun rules” and stuff. Instead, she thought that maybe that was her chance to ask what had bothered her the other day. Why not? Didn’t Margaery want a distraction? That’d surely keep her entertained for a while. 

“When did you start liking me? You know, in a non friendly way.” 

“Wow.” Margaery looked briefly at her, surprised. “So not what I had in mind.” 

“Didn’t you want conversation?” She grinned, kind of pleased with that reaction. 

“But that’s not fair! I can’t ask you the same thing.” 

“Well, technically you can ask me. You just know the answer.” Sansa shrugged. “It’s not my fault!” 

“ _Well_ , it’s not my fault either.” 

“Come on, Miss Confidence. You can’t be seriously telling me that you’re embarrassed!”

It was in that moment when Sansa realized how Margaery was tapping her index finger on the steering wheel. She knew that was something that Margaery did when she was feeling nervous. Why was she nervous, though? Because of how long it had been or just because she felt shy about confessing it? 

Fine. _Fine_ , maybe Sansa had freaked out a bit thinking that Margaery had liked her for a long time the previous day, but there was nothing wrong with that! In the end it didn’t change a thing and Sansa knew that, she did! They were together, things had worked out… it hadn’t been unrequited love. _Like_ , Sansa chastised herself, _like_. They were still in the “like” zone, as long as Margaery knew. The other “l” word had to be banned from her vocabulary. 

“Let’s just say a long time. We can leave it like that.” 

Sansa wouldn’t, they both knew it. “But exactly… how long is a long time?” 

Margaery laughed, and when she answered she did it . “A while.” 

“You’re annoying.” 

Margaery snorted. “Said the teapot to the kettle.” 

“I’m not being annoying, I’m being persistent. There’s a difference.” 

“Not really, no.” Margaery grinned, and Sansa huffed. 

“You saying things like that make me freak out more than any answer you could give me.” 

“Ah! So you admit that you’re freaking out about it.” 

“Oh, come on. That’s hardly the point.” 

Margaery laughed. “I knew it.” 

“Seriously though, this not knowing thing is way worse than anything else.” 

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” 

“Try me.” 

“I see what you’re doing.”

“Come on, Marg! Is this how you want to start our relationship? Keeping things from me?” Sansa tried not to smile. 

“We’ve been together for like a week, Sansa, I’m still allowed to have a few secrets.” Margaery’s amused tone annoyed Sansa, so she playfully hit her on the arm. “Hey! No violence against the driver!” 

“Gods, you’re irritating.” 

“Annoying, irritating… so many compliments in just one little conversation. Please, keep talking.” 

“Whatever.” Sansa turned away from Margaery, looking at the window again. She only did that so Margaery wouldn’t see her broad smile. There was no way she was going to give the girl the pleasure to know that she found her comments funny. 

A few seconds passed before Margaery broke the silence. 

“It was after that party.” 

“The party? What party?” 

“The one before spring break. The one with the bathroom incident.” 

_The bathroom incident_. That was a nice way of putting it, Sansa thought. But of course she knew what she was referring to, she remembered exactly what party it had been. How could she forget the party where she had ended up crying on a stranger’s bathroom floor? One of her lowest moments, definitely. Margaery had spent that night with her, first in the bathroom offering the support she obviously needed and then in her dorm, talking to her until both of them fell asleep.

That was the first night they had spent together, ever. And even though they had only known each other from a few months, Sansa already felt closer to Margaery than to many people she had known for years. Her presence had been so soothing that Sansa even thought that, eventually, things would be okay. And in that moment that was a pretty big deal. So yes, she remembered that party. 

“That happened my first year of uni.” 

“I know.” 

“That was three years ago.” 

“I _know_.” 

Sansa bit her lip. That was a long time ago, so long that she almost couldn’t believe that Margaery had liked her since then, it seemed unreal. A bit awkward too, specially since Sansa had talked about boys and dates and that kind of stuff with her friend oblivious to those feelings. 

But then again, she had seen Margaery date as well. Hmm. 

“You should have told me.” 

Margaery laughed, the kind of laugh that wasn’t intended to be funny. A sad one. “Easier said than done.” 

“Can’t argue with that…” 

“Besides, I don’t think you would have been ready for that.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“You needed a friend. I was happy to be that for you.” She shrugged like it was nothing, not a big deal. “I would have been happy being just your friend forever, you know? Had you not felt like this…” 

Sansa put her hand on Margaery’s knee. “Aw, that’s nice of you to say…” 

“Okay… Are you pitying me now? This is awkward.” 

“Hey, don’t steal my phrase!” Sansa tried to lighten the mood. “You’re the one who’s all cool and collected, don’t change the roles now. It’ll get confusing.” 

Margaery smiled, truly smiled, for the first time during the conversation. 

“I wish I would have realized I liked you when our holidays were starting.” Sansa commented. 

“Why?” 

“We would have had more time… obviously.”

“Nonsense.” Margaery moved her hand dismissively . “We still have all the time in the world.”

Sansa kissed Margaery’s shoulder before looking at the long road ahead of them. She could see a few houses here and there, but the landscape was mostly empty. 

“Now you can go back to being quiet.” Margaery laughed. “Enough torture.” 

Sansa rolled her eyes and gave her a playful smack on her thigh. Her bare thigh. The shorts were impossibly short when she was sitting down, and Sansa couldn’t help but bask in the image, her hand lingering there. With all the thoughts and ideas running through her head she imagined her cheeks were getting redder, she felt warm all over. Probably because of the sun, she thought… if only she’d believe it. 

As if the universe had decided to grant her a wish she hadn’t even dared to ask for, she saw a road sign.

“Marg, go there.” 

“What?”

“Service station.” She signaled the exit on their right. 

Margaery looked briefly at Sansa, but Sansa just nodded. _Do as I tell you_. And Margaery did as she was told. A minute later she was parking the car next to the building. 

“What’s going—“ 

Sansa’s lips on hers stopped Margaery from finishing the sentence. But it wasn’t enough. A kiss like that wasn’t enough, not anymore. Sansa soon discovered that there was no graceful way of climbing into Margaery’s lap, so she tried her best to, at least, not be super awkward about it. No complaints were heard, so that was definitely a good sign. Her hands traveled along Margaery’s sides, playfully tickling her, and she squirmed beneath Sansa. 

“Bad girl, go back to your seat!” 

“I’d rather not.” She mumbled against her neck, before she started trailing her lips along Margaery’s jawline, then moving to her neck where she began to plant open mouth kisses. Sansa heard Margaery’s sigh and smiled to herself. So much for making her go back to her seat… 

She didn’t now what possessed her, but she decided that she needed to get her hands under Margaery’s shirt. It was like a craving, and there was no point on denying herself that pleasure. So that’s exactly what she did, because she was making out with her girlfriend in the car and she didn’t need any other reason than feeling like it (what a marvelous thing!). Margaery’s skin was so soft that she thought she could spend hours just caressing it, it could easily become one of her hobbies. When her hands started going even higher she reached a point where suddenly she wasn’t touching skin anymore but soft fabric - although never softer than Margaery’s skin. She held her breath, surprised but at the same time, not really. 

“After getting that far…” Margaery whispered in what seemed to be almost a growl, “don’t you dare to stop now.” 

Sansa stared at Margaery for a second, wondering if she’d see her eyes darken like she had read in some stories… but Margaery’s eyes stayed their usual clear blue. Her breath, though, was a bit more labored than it had been a moment before and her cheeks way rosier. She was smirking, her mouth slightly open, and Sansa kissed her again while running her thumbs across her bra, not knowing if the moan she heard was coming from Margaery or herself. She tried to tell her brain not to forget what she was feeling, that was a moment to remember forever. After a while she pulled away, needing to take a deep breath since her brain was all “senses overloading mode”. 

“Oh my gods, Marg.” She said, almost out of breath. 

“What?” 

“I’m touching girl’s boobs.” 

Margaery snorted. “Wow, you’re such a dork.” 

“No, no… you don’t get it.” Sansa lowered her voice, trying not to laugh too, kind of failing in the end. “Girl’s boobs! And under the shirt!” 

“I _don’t_ get it? Really?” Margaery arched both her eyebrows. “Sans, they’re my boobs you’re talking about. I do kind of get it. _Kind of_.”

Sansa blushed, the realization of the situation hitting her hard (although she didn’t move her hands one bit). She bit her lip, suddenly feeling quite self conscious and a bit shy. 

“Gods, you’re so cute.” 

Margaery took her face between her hands and kissed her, softly biting Sansa’s bottom lip, half moan half groan coming out of her lips as Sansa slipped her hands away from her chest. Sansa’s sexual frustration was getting dangerously high, and she could see that Margaery was pretty much the same, but they were in a parking lot after all… she wasn’t going to ask for more in a place like that, and so her rational part made her break the kiss. She opened Margaery’s side door and before she disentangled herself from her girlfriend she gave her a quick peck, then climbed down from her lap.

“You had been driving for two and a half hours, by the way. It’s my turn.”

Margaery groaned loudly this time. “Evil. But I won’t say I don’t appreciate your ways, Sans.” 

Her father had been quite clear about that. Two hours, that’s how long their driving shifts had to be so they wouldn’t get too tired. They decided that they’d only do that if they felt really tired, otherwise they could go on for another half an hour without it being too dangerous, hopefully. It’d be their secret. 

Sansa’s turn started when they were halfway to White Harbor. They knew there was a slightly quicker way to get to King’s Landing, but they also knew that White Harbor was one of the nicest cities in Westeros and neither of them had been there before. It seemed like its harbor was as white as the name promised it would be, so it was worth checking out. And weren’t they doing the road trip so they could visit places? Exactly. They got to their destination when they still had one hour left of good light. Deciding to park the car, they took a walk around the city center and ended up in the harbor. The pictures online had been pretty, but seeing it in real life was even better, as expected. Sansa made Margaery stop many times to take pictures of her with the harbor in the background, which ended up annoying Margaery a little bit. 

“If you at least posed with me!” She complained. “Then it wouldn’t be that bad.” 

And then Sansa did as Margaery suggested, joining her and taking pictures where the two of them made weird faces or showed their big smiles, stealing kisses from each other between takes. 

“I’m posting this one.” She showed her favorite picture of the both of them to Margaery, who nodded appreciatively. 

“We look good together, don’t we?” 

Sansa finally understand what people meant about the “honeymoon” phase of a relationship. Specially now that they were traveling together and everything was just… perfect. There was no other way to describe it, because she was in constant awe of how good things were between them. Who cared if the next stage wouldn’t be as great? At least she’d have these memories! 

After having dinner they went to the outskirts of the city and found a motel that didn’t look too shabby. At least the façade looked new and it had vacancies. What they weren’t able to foresee was to meet a receptionist like the one that was waiting at the desk. The guy, probably in his forties, ogled them and Sansa felt instantly sick at the sight. Gods, why did people need to be like that sometimes? And she wasn’t talking just about men, no she wasn’t going to be such an hypocrite. She had seen women look at Margaery in that lechery way too. Technically she could understand why, but like… _show a bit of respect, people_. There was something called subtlety, but apparently a lot of people lacked from it. 

“I’ll need your IDs.” The guy was saying. “You can pay in cash or credit card.” 

“Card.” Margaery handled her card and her ID. It’d be Sansa’s turn to pay the next night. 

“Twins or double bed?” 

Sansa’s cheeks reddened at the implications of the question, so she allowed Margaery to answer for her. 

“Double.” 

Was it bad that the way Margaery pronounced that single word made Sansa get all hot and bothered? Gods, she needed to get laid. Pronto. That was until the guy nodded and smiled lewdly. Instant mood kill. 

He handled Margaery the key to the room. “Have fun, girls.” 

“Gross. Gross gross gross.” Sansa whispered as they left his desk. 

“Wanna give him something to remember?” Margaery wriggled her eyebrows suggestively. 

“Tell me you didn’t just say that.” Sansa pretended to shiver. “Disgusting, Marg. Ew.” 

“Maybe I just want to kiss you.” 

“Then you can wait to kiss me in the safety of our room!” She huffed and strode away while Margaery stayed a bit behind laughing at her, presumably. 

A couple of seconds later, she was next to Sansa again, taking her hand in hers once they were safe from the guy’s stare and kissing it. “I was kidding, hope you know that.” 

“I do, as I also know that your sense of humor is terrible.” 

 

Their room was on the first floor, and it turned out not to be half bad either. It was definitely good for the price they had paid. And since they just wanted to sleep that night, they were quite happy about it. 

As soon as they went in the room, and once they had decided that they’d get an early start the next day (which meant they had to go to sleep) Sansa grabbed her stuff and went to change in the bathroom. She was so not going to change in front of her, it’d mean she’d be seeing Margaery changing too and then… yeah. Better not. 

Sansa washed her face, changed into her PJs and stared at herself in the mirror. She was going to share a bed with Margaery. Gods, how could she survive the night? So close. She took a deep breath before exiting the bathroom and Margaery, who was standing in the corner where her bag was, stared at her for a few seconds before shaking her head. 

“Nu-uh. Where are my favorite PJs?!” The expression on Margaery’s face was one of pretended indignation. 

“I… what?” 

“You know. The ones with the cute and tiny unicorns.” 

_Oh my gods_ , Sansa thought. She couldn’t believe that Margaery remembered those. “They’re winter pyjamas, Margaery.”

“Hmm…” Margaery squinted at her. “Guess I’ll be seeing them soon enough.” 

Sansa got in bed and it was so warm that the blankets had to be discarded. She wished that the weather had been a bit colder so at least she wouldn’t be so… so exposed. Yup, she was suddenly feeling a bit shy about the whole “let’s share a room and a bed like it’s not a big deal”. It wasn’t awkward, not really, but she just… she couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was such a tiny space! Having twin beds would have been extremely weird, but the fact that they were sharing made Sansa feel a bit anxious, if she was completely honest with herself. 

Margaery looked at Sansa while she put her hair up on a bun, something that Sansa had seen her do plenty of times before she went to sleep. 

“First night, huh?” She smirked. “Exactly how nervous are you?” 

“The normal amount, I think?” Sansa laughed softly, feeling a bit of her anxiety disappear. 

“Good answer.” Margaery checked herself out in the mirror and then she let herself fall on the next to Sansa, who smiled at the sight. 

“I thought I wanted to sleep, but I don’t. Not really.” She said while turning to face Margaery.

“But you’re tired. You’ve been repeating that for the past hour.” 

“I know.” Sansa pouted. “And my head _really_ hurts.” 

Margaery huffed jokingly while she tucked a loose strand of hair behind Sansa’s ear. 

“Hey, if you don’t want to have sex with me that’s fine, but you could at least come up with a better excuse.” 

Sansa let out an offended gasp and blushed, because Margaery might had been joking, but it meant she had _thought_ about it. Which was understandable, she had thought about it too. Like, it was probably one of her “top” thoughts as of lately. Just… wow. 

“I’m not going to bother replying to that.” 

Margaery kissed her cheek, and the movement she had to do made the mattress springs squeak. They both laughed. 

“It’s probably a good thing we’re not doing that. Because I think even the receptionist would hear… and you’re all against showing off.” 

“And now you’re trying to convince me to go to sleep…” Sansa smiled, wickedly. She was ready to dramatize for a little bit. “You’re tired of me already, aren’t you?”

“Oh my gods.” 

“Less than a day together…” 

“I know, right? You’re just so… boring and— and… uninteresting and not attractive at all. Ugh, Sansa… why would I do this to myself?” Margaery gave her words a dramatic touch. “I wish I would have thought about this before I asked you to come with me.” 

Sansa laughed before closing the little space between them, before she entangled herself in Margaery’s arms, before their lips finally met in an action that already felt so natural, so meant to be. With one hand tucked under the pillow, the free one started to wander through Margaery’s side, subtlety getting under her shirt. 

“I thought you wanted to sleep.” 

Okay, so maybe not so subtlety. 

“Are you complaining?” 

“Never.” She purred. “Just wondering.” 

Maybe it was because the room was dimly lit and she was feeling more confident in the darkness, or maybe it was because she felt so at ease when she was around Margaery that she didn’t mind thinking, or even saying, those things… maybe she was just getting braver. Whatever the reason was, Sansa spoke her mind. 

“If you want me to stop, we need some rules. First, you need to stop making sexy noises because wow. Have you heard yourself? So not fair.” 

Margaery hummed appreciatively. “My, my… Miss Stark, you think that’s how a proper lady should be talking?” 

“Who said I’m a proper lady?” 

Yes, Sansa was tired; yes, they needed to sleep in order to be well rested the next day; and yes, her headache was giving her a hard time… still, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t have just a tiny little bit of fun before sleeping, right? Now that she was finally feeling comfortable enough… Five minutes, that was all Sansa was asking. Five minutes… and then she’d go to sleep (although she secretly hoped that Margaery would keep her entertained for a bit longer). It was, after all, the first night she was spending with her girlfriend.


	12. You and me are the lucky ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The road trip continues... and stuff happens.
> 
> Not bad for a summary, huh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the fact that this chapter's almost twice as long as the previously longest one, plus the content of it... will make up for the months that it's taken me to update this.

“Oh my gods!” 

It all happened in a split second. First it was Margaery’s yell. Then her hand grabbing Sansa’s forearm causing the girl to slam the brakes, something that earned them a honk from the car that was behind them. 

“The hell?!” Sansa shrieked, she almost got a heart attack. 

She made an apologetic gesture with her hand as she pulled over to the curb, feeling mortified when she saw that the guy driving was giving them the finger. Good thing her dad wasn’t there to see what had just happened or he would have definitely made them go back to Winterfell, forbidding Sansa to be near any vehicle she could drive for the rest of her life. 

“The Rose of Highgarden!” Margaery exclaimed. 

Sansa frowned, not understanding a single thing that was going on. Until she noticed Margaery’s face. Only then it sinked in. Margaery’s yell hadn’t been a scared one, it had been filled with excitement. An excitement that was still present in both her voice and her face. 

While Sansa had been worried sick thinking that there was something wrong with Margaery, the girl had just been referring to a motel that was to their right called The Rose of Highgarden. Sansa hissed. 

“Fuck, Margaery! You can’t scream like that! Not when I’m driving!” She put her hand over her chest, feeling her pulse. Her heart was beating extremely fast. 

“Sorry, sorry… But I mean, the Rose of Highgarden, Sans!” 

She was furious, but thankfully she was able to refrain from yelling “No one fucking cares about the stupid Rose of Highgarden!” Instead, she settled for a “Gods!” as she wiggled her body, as if that would help her get rid of the anxiety she was feeling. 

Margaery looked apologetically for the first time since the incident, probably just realizing the amount of distress Sansa was in. “I didn’t mean to scare you…” 

“Well, you did.” Sansa looked at her, hurt in her eyes. “I could have pulled over had you just told me to stop!” 

“I know. I’m sorry. It was just… I don’t know, I got so excited! I guess I miss Highgarden.” 

“Don’t you dare.” She shot a glare towards Margaery. “Your dirty tricks won’t work on me.” 

Margaery couldn’t help but laugh, “Please, pleaaaaase… let’s stay here tonight.” 

Sansa was angry, hells, she was furious…! But there was no way on earth that she could deny that girl anything. Specially not when Margaery was looking at her with those eyes and that hopeful smile and while she looked so happy, kind of like an excited puppy or something. How could Sansa say no? To hell with their plans of driving for an hour and a half more that day, they could do that the next one, there was no hurry! It was summer and they had all the time in the world… at least for a week and a half more. 

“Yeah, sure.” She rolled her eyes, like she was making her a big favor. But both of them knew better. 

“I owe you a big one.” 

“Oh, I know. And I can think of a few ways to make you pay later….” Sansa said those words trying to be as sultry as possible, and apparently it worked because Margaery’s smile faltered. 

She loved doing that, she loved seeing how Margaery’s expression changed, or how her hands got all clumsy for a second. It was always like that, she caught her off guard, which in turn amused Sansa a great deal. Seeing the reaction that her own words had on Margaery… it was something she had discovered she enjoyed. Nice good girls, like Sansa had been called plenty of times, also had _certain_ needs. And… hadn’t Margaery been insisting on how Sansa was like a wolf? Well, she could be that. She could bite. Metaphorically speaking. Or not. Maybe Margaery was into that? She’d have to find out (oh gods, Sansa needed to stop fantasizing about what Margaery liked in bed, specially when she was about to sleep next to her again). 

 

Thankfully for Margaery (or Sansa wouldn’t have let her hear the end of it) the Rose of Highgarden was a really nice place. It wasn’t exactly cheap, maybe that was why, but they could afford it. Margaery could, at least. She insisted on paying, since it had been her idea. Usually, Sansa was against letting Margaery pay for their stuff, no matter if she had more money or not, but this time? She was willing to make an exception, she was willing to let that one go without arguing because she was still bitter about the “car incident”. 

“Basically, we’re in the middle of nowhere.” Sansa said, looking at her phone and then at Margaery, who shrugged as if saying “I’m sorry I chose this place”. Yeah, she better be sorry. 

“We should still get to King’s Landing tomorrow afternoon, right?”

“That was the plan.” Sansa replied, although she wasn’t sure anymore. 

Margaery looked at the map from behind Sansa’s back and nodded after a few seconds. “I think we can make it. Worst case scenario, it’ll be the evening. But it’s going to be okay. Maybe we can relax today, get ready for the big day.”

Sansa hummed, thinking about it for a couple of seconds and then nodding when she realized that it sounded nice. 

“Then… Maybe I can go get something to eat.” 

Margaery frowned at her words. “You?” 

“I was thinking that I could call my parents, talk to them for a bit.” Sansa shrugged. “If that’s okay with you.” 

“Hey, you’re the one offering to do the shopping by herself! It’s not me who has to be okay with it.” Margaery shrugged and smiled. “But yes, sounds good to me. I’ll shower in the meantime.” 

“I’ll be on my way, then.” 

Margaery tilted her head, just slightly, and then she brushed her lips on Sansa’s cheek. “Call me if you get lost.” 

Sansa pushed Margaery aside, side-eyeing her before she started laughing too. “I’ll be back in a bit.” 

“I’ll be missing you.” Margaery winked playfully at her. 

“Uh huh.” Sansa rolled her eyes. 

She made sure that her wallet was in her bag and she opened the door. Margaery’s voice then reached her all the way from the bathroom. “I’ll think of you while I shower.” 

She gulped. She gulped hard as she felt her face grow impossibly hot. And other places, too. This girl was going to kill her… she really was. How was Sansa supposed to call her parents now, when she was all hot and bothered?

Any other time, Sansa thought, any other time that wouldn’t have been their _first_ … Sansa would have followed Margaery back inside. Showering together? Yes, please. Where did she have to sign? Sadly, Sansa’s brain deemed the motel’s shower as an inappropriate place to have sex with her girlfriend for the first time. How about that? Still, that didn’t mean that she couldn’t fantasize about it (as she was getting so used to doing). Sansa would have to walk for a bit before she could clear her mind enough to call her parents. 

 

Not much later, when the first raindrop fell on her cheek, Sansa was still talking to her mother. And she hadn’t reached the closest store, either. 

“Ugh, mom… it’s starting to rain. I’ll call you tomorrow okay? I need to hurry.” 

“Don’t get wet, you’ll get a cold.” Sansa rolled her eyes at this. Some things never changed… but her heart filled with love. “Take care, sweetheart.” 

“You too! Say hi to everyone. I love you, mom!” 

“Oh! And say hello to Margaery from me!” 

Sansa laughed as she ended the call, but then her expression quickly changed when she took a real look at the grey sky, a frown formed on on her face. She hadn’t anticipated that and that’s why bringing an umbrella had never even crossed her mind. She walked faster towards the store, after all she was more than halfway there (according to her phone) and going back to the motel empty handed was pointless, they would get hungry at some point and the vending machine wouldn’t do it for them. 

 

Twenty minutes and a big storm later, Sansa was back in their room at the Rose of Highgarden, holding the plastic bag with all the groceries against her chest. Her face as somber as her thoughts. 

“Damn rain. Damn this stupid town. Damn everything!” Sansa groaned in frustration and closed the door behind her, dropping the contents of the bag on the bed angrily. It was only then when she realized the error in her ways, since a lot of the stuff was also wet. She cursed under her breath and started drying the bedspread with the nearest towel, putting all the things back in the bag. 

The bathroom door opened and she saw Margaery out of the corner of her eye, wrapped in a towel, with a look of disbelief on her face. At any other point, she would have stared and she would have wondered if Margaery had in fact thought about her while she had been out. But she was too annoyed, too angry, to be able to focus on anything other than that. Her loss, really. 

“Wow, I heard the rain but… is it raining _that_ much?” 

“No, I just showered outside.” Sansa glared at Margaery. Gee, Captain Obvious much. “Are you done with the bathroom? I’m going to freeze.” 

She was clearly exaggerating, they both knew, still Margaery stepped aside choosing not reply to Sansa’s snarky remark. _Good_. She caught her pyjamas and headed to the bathroom, keeping her eyes down. Her arm bumped against Margaery’s, but neither of them said a thing. 

Sansa discarded her wet clothes on the floor, after she shut the door behind her. Stupid weather, couldn’t it had been a normal summer storm? Just a few raindrops before it stopped? Simply enough to make car owners curse because their cars got dirty. No, of course not. That would have been too good to be true. So it had to be a big storm, one that made Sansa hate everything and everyone. 

In the shower, the rain that was making her skin wet was quickly replaced by the warm water, Sansa shivered as her body adjusted to that sudden change of temperature. Not only that, it felt like the water washed away her anger too. Soon she felt pretty stupid about her outburst a moment before. It was just rain after all, and it wasn’t even _that_ cold outside… it had been just a little bit windy and annoying, but she had used to love to walk in the rain as a kid, why was she complaining now? One thing was for sure, she’d have to apologize to Margaery. That would have to be her number one priority the moment she stepped out of the shower. 

Fifteen minutes later, her hair was mostly dry and she was on her PJs ready to settle for the evening. Considering the weather and the fact that they were basically in the middle of nowhere… it wasn’t like they could go places, not even if they wanted to. When she came out of the bathroom she saw Margaery playing Dots on her phone, sitting on the armchair that was closest to the window. She was the picture of melancholy… minus the phone. The room was dimly lit, Margaery was facing the window, the water was pouring down outside… yes, without the phone, the picture would have been worth drawing. Then again, anything that involved Margaery made Sansa want to draw. 

“Hey…” Sansa said, carefully. 

Margaery raised her eyes an instant and hummed in response. Sansa frowned. Not even a word? Okay, Sansa might have been acting like a brat before, but what Margaery was doing was rude too! 

“So, are you hungry?” She said nonchalantly, sitting on the bed and looking at the stuff she brought from the store. 

“Not really.” Margaery’s fingers moved through the screen of her phone, connecting the stupid dots while ignoring Sansa altogether. 

Sansa’s pride took another hit. It was beginning to feel critical. What was that about? She had tried to approach Margaery normally, but that wasn’t working and everything felt worse and Sansa didn’t know what to do. 

“Margaery, could you please… please, stop playing and look at me for a moment?” 

She complied and locked her phone, putting it away, sighing on the process. _Come on!_

“Yes?” 

Sansa bit the inside of her cheek. “What’s going on? Are you mad at me now?” 

“No.” Margaery simply shrugged, which made Sansa get a bit annoyed, what kind of response was that? One that matched the damn humming, that was for sure. “I’m giving you space.” 

“Okay, thank you for that, I needed it before.” Sansa nodded, hoping that she appeared to be understanding. “But… I don’t need it now. Didn’t you notice a slight difference in how I was before the shower and after?” 

Margaery didn’t reply, instead she just stared at her for a few seconds. A few seconds in which Sansa wondered what was going on in her mind. She didn’t like this. She didn’t like arguing because of stupid stuff. But if there was one thing that she knew, too, was that Margaery’s pride could be a bitch as well as her own. She wouldn’t be apologizing, not yet.

“I’m sorry. I was just pissed off. The rain really, _really_ annoyed me and… I’m sorry.” 

“Okay.” 

Okay. It didn’t feel _okay_. Was that their first fight? Were they fighting? Oh gods. _Don’t panic, don’t panic…_

“… Are you sure?” 

“Sansa, it’s fine.” 

Margaery unlocked her phone and went back to play, and Sansa felt like crying. She didn’t want to fight, not while they were away. There was nowhere to go if they argued and they wanted to get away from each other, no house with parents or siblings who would listen to their complaints or whining. They were trapped in the same room. Damn Rose of Highgarden! Sansa started to freak out internally. What if things spiralled out of control and that small thing made them break up? It’d totally be her fault and she’d regret for the rest of her l — Oh wow. She forced herself to stop that idiotic train of thought. She knew Margaery, for gods’ sake. She knew she could fix this. Hells, there was no one in Westeros besides, maybe, Margaery’s own parents who would be better at fixing things when it came to her girlfriend!

She was going to ace this. 

“So…” Sansa smiled shyly, totally playing the cute card since she was feeling a bit better with herself after her internal pep talk. “If, I go there and, I don’t know, try to kiss you… will that be _okay_ or _fine_ with you?” 

That earned her a small chuckle from Margaery, who apparently decided that Sansa moving to the armchair wasn’t such a good idea and, instead, she got up and discarded her phone on the armchair and went to lay on the bed with Sansa. She tugged at her hand, making her lay down too. 

“Sorry…” Margaery muttered before she kissed the corner of her lips, lingering there for a couple of seconds. 

“It’s okay, this was mostly me.” Sansa cuddled next to her, closing her eyes and letting her other senses take over. It felt nice. It _was_ nice. She smiled. 

“Yeah, it totally was…” Margaery’s tone was playful. 

Sansa opened her eyes only to fake-glare at the other girl. “Hey!” 

Margaery grinned and if Sansa had any remaining worries, they all left as she rested her head on Margaery’s chest. After a few seconds in which she was adjusting herself, she was able to listen to her heartbeat. Sansa closed her eyes and focused on the sound of her breathing, too, and how her own head also moved in synch with Margaery’s breathing. Up and down. Up and down. It was so relaxing… she could fall asleep like that. She smiled. Sometimes, she thought, things could be solved so easily. A kiss and a hug. Nothing more, nothing less… 

 

The next time she opened her eyes she noticed a few differences in the room. There was a blanket covering her that hadn’t been before, but most importantly… Margaery wasn’t under her as she had been before. Nor anywhere in the room, for that matter. She discarded the blanket and got up. Apparently, when she thought that she could fall asleep… she really meant it. 

After knocking on the bathroom door and getting no answer she hummed. It was like one of those movies where a couple’s traveling and suddenly weird and mysterious things start happening, one of them disappears and terror ensues. Hopefully her life wasn’t about to become one of those. She went to the window and looked for Margaery’s car. It was still there. It didn’t mean anything, nor it answered any of the multiple questions that Sansa had… but at least the car was where it was supposed to be. That was good. It was a start. Sansa bit her lip, frowning and looking at the window. The rain had stopped, she noticed. Of course it did. It only lasted enough to ruin her walk. 

If her ears would have been able to move like some animal’s could, they would have pointed to the door the moment she heard the faintest of sounds outside. She turned quickly as the door opened, Margaery making an entrance a second later, carrying a couple of water bottles and a soda, too. The relief Sansa felt was instant. 

“Oh, hey. You’re up.” Margaery winked an eye at her and smiled. “I went to get something to drink. For dinner.” 

Margaery, who was unaware of the I’m-about-to-panic moment that Sansa had experienced a moment before, gasped surprisedly when Sansa tackled her into a tight hug, not caring if the bottles fell to the floor or anything. 

“I’ve missed you…” She whispered against her neck. 

“Did you, now?” Margaery almost purred. 

Sansa nodded and hugged her even tighter. “I didn’t know where you were!” 

“I was gone for two like minutes, I didn’t think you’d get up in that time.” Margaery laughed as she found Sansa’s lips, giving her a quick peck. “You’ve got the best timing, my dear.” 

Sansa sighed, happily. She had also missed the kisses. Why did it feel like they hadn’t kissed in hours? Hadn’t they? They should kiss more often, yes. And since actions speak louder than words (or in her case, thoughts) she just captured Margaery’s lips with her own again, pushing her against the door. Then there was a moan, but Sansa didn’t really know if it had been hers or Margaery’s, who had her hands traveling along her sides until they slid under her shirt. 

The spell was broken when Margaery’s stomach growled. Sansa giggled and gave her one last kiss before she pulled away. 

Margaery shook her head, visibly amused as well. “So, I don’t know if you’re aware… but I’m kind of hungry.”

“I knew. But of course, people say that I have a sixth sense, that I’m kind of psychic. It was probably that.”

They both laughed as they moved towards the bag with the food. 

Sansa’s brain, although she was desperately trying to think about dinner, was somewhere else. It just wouldn’t stop replaying the moment that had happened a moment before. _It won’t be long_. She knew. She knew… and the waiting was killing her. In a kind of positive way. 

 

One “fancy” dinner later, Sansa was looking for ways to entertain herself because it was quite early, still. She had zero interest in the TV, so that lead her with… the maps. Why not? She got them opened on the bed and started trying to figure out which was the best way to get to King’s Landing the next day, making a mental note to call the landlords to make an appointment. 

Sansa smiled at the thought. Soon they’d have a flat that they could call “their own”, a place that wasn’t their parents, or the dorm at uni but… _theirs_. Things had already changed that summer, but they were going to change even more the following months. And she just couldn’t wait. Not long ago she hadn’t been so sure, but now she was all for it. The road trip had proven quite effective to make her realize that she wanted it all, the good and the bad, she wanted everything that came with being with Margaery. 

“You know…” Sansa started saying, while still looking at the map in front of her. “If we can’t get that flat, although I hope we will, maybe we should start looking for single room apartments.” 

She heard Margaery’s hum so she looked up and she saw her staring with an arched eyebrow. She had stopped playing what, Sansa could only assume, was the damned Dots game. 

“Why a single room?” She asked, finally. 

Why would you ask that, Margery? She thought, as she felt self-conscious about what she had said. 

So she chose the easy way. “I don’t know.” 

“But you _do_ know.” 

She could lie. She could say that she was thinking about saving money… but come on, they both knew that wasn’t it. And she loved how Margaery tried to make her confess. 

“I feel like we won’t need two bedrooms.” She said, finally. 

Margaery smirked. “Now you don’t think it’ll make things complicated between us?” 

Sansa rolled her eyes. Of course she’d remind her of her own panicky moments. Of course. 

“I like sleeping with you. I mean— next to you.” She hoped she wasn’t blushing, because if she was just because she said “sleeping with you” her issues were much bigger than she imagined. Which they probably were, gods she was awkward! 

“Hopefully you will like sleeping _with_ me as well.” The flirtatious look in Margaery’s face was too much to handle. 

“I’d hope so!” Yup, If she wasn’t blushing before, she was definitely blushing in that moment. So many thoughts running through her head. 

Margaery left her phone on the bedside table and made room for herself on the bed, among the maps and books and other things that Sansa had all over the bedspread. The way she looked at Sansa made her shiver. Then Margaery was kissing her and Sansa released the breath she hadn’t noticed she was holding. Without saying a word, they tried to look for a more comfortable position and Sansa heard the distinctive sound of wrinkling paper. For a second, Sansa’s brain went all _“Careful, the map!”_ since they were probably damaging it… but then Margaery started kissing her collarbone and got her hands under her shirt and she forgot how words worked. Also, who cared about a map, of all things?! 

“You know… We could find out. Now.” Margaery whispered, after she had kissed the length of Sansa’s neck. 

Her breath hitched. They could. They could find out then, there was no one and nothing that would stop them because they were alone… and gods knew that she needed it. Sansa had been thinking about sex for so long that she worried about spending more time thinking about it than teenagers.

“We… we should.” 

“Yeah?” Sansa nodded and kissed Margaery, hoping that her nerves wouldn’t be noticeable. Yes, she was nervous… but in a good way. She was ready. Beyond ready. 

Margaery’s lips were on her neck, then they moved to her ear, trailing hot kisses along the way, and honestly? There was no way Sansa would have wanted that to cease, and there was no way that she wouldn’t feel like doing much more than just getting a few kisses. She sighed out of content. With Margaery on top of her, she was pretty much at her mercy and she was fine with it… she was kind of freaking out, realizing that she had no idea of what to do. Or, well, she had some ideas but… how to be sure if Margaery was into that? Or what if she didn’t do it good enough and… 

“Stop. Thinking.” 

Sansa opened her eyes, surprised. “Wha… how did you know?” 

“Because you kind of froze, Sans. And that could only mean one thing.” 

She would have felt embarrassed, but the way that Margaery was looking at her… she… she felt safe. She felt loved. And of course, she had to laugh at herself because leave it to Sansa Stark to freeze in the middle of _that_. 

“So, we’re doing it. Sex.” She said, chuckling.

“It’s so hot when you put it like that.” Margaery laughed too. “That’s why I like you, because you have a way with words. You really do.” 

“Idiot.” 

“Oh, _I’m_ the idiot one?” 

Sansa grinned and nodded. Maybe she needed to use the awkward sentences and jokes to get through her anxiety issues, but it was working because she was helping Margaery take her top off and she was feeling pretty confident about the whole thing. That was, of course, until she was met with skin, and skin only. 

“No bra.” Her voice came out high, super high even. But it was understandable, since she had just realized why boys were so fixated with girls’ boobs. It all made sense in that moment. Margaery’s were… wow, just wow. 

Margaery shook her head and smiled. “Nope.” 

Sansa needed to touch. It felt like the most important thing that she could be doing in that moment. When the other day she had done it under the shirt and over the bra she had felt like it was such an accomplishment… but this was the real deal. This was it. She put her hands on Margaery’s stomach and started to caress her way up to them, smiling like an idiot the whole time. 

“Gee, I can’t believe I got a girlfriend this hot.” She muttered. 

Margaery’s laugh turned into a gasp the moment Sansa’s hands reached their destination (albeit a temporary one because being honest, Sansa had a lot more places in mind she wanted to explore). That sound, and that sound alone, managed to turn Sansa’s brain into something useless. But then again, it wasn’t just the moan… it was the way that the skin felt different, too. Sansa bit her lip while looking at her thumb, brushing Margaery’s nipple for the first time, being completely mesmerized by everything. Then she pulled Margaery closer and kissed her, but her hands quickly returned to the place they had just discovered, and it was simply amazing. Margaery, lying on top of her, with nothing but her shorts on and just… seven hells, it was hot. 

“It’s my turn. My turn!” 

Sansa frowned and pushed her away, but only a little bit. “I hope you’re not quoting Black Swan to me, Margaery Tyrell.” 

The girl smirked. “What if I am?” 

“That’s creepy!” 

Margaery muffled a laugh as she went back to kiss Sansa, entangling her hand on her hair. She pressed herself against Sansa, and she couldn’t help to think how great it would it feel if they were both naked because then she’d be feeling Margaery’s skin against her own and… 

“Take off your tee.”

“Now you’re the mind reader…” Sansa whispered. 

Unlike Margaery, she was indeed wearing a bra, but the other girl had no problem helping her discard that item of clothing. In fact, Margaery seemed pretty eager to do it, which made Sansa smile. She had heard about some people having trouble undoing bras but Margaery’s hands, Sansa discovered, managed to do it flawlessly (seriously, _everything_ she did!) 

Sansa’s attention left the perfectness of Margaery to focus on herself, because she was feeling way too conscious about her own body. After all, she was half naked, and the fact that Margaery couldn’t take her eyes off her chest brought mixed feelings. 

“Gods. You… this… can’t be true.” Margaery shook her head. “It’s so surreal, to finally…” 

Margaery laughed, and it almost looked like she was daydreaming. Sansa would have liked to ask what was she thinking, then, but any words that Sansa might have given her got lost forever the moment Margaery’s hands did what Sansa’s own ones had done not long ago. When she felt Margaery’s fingers brush her nipples Sansa’s breath hitched. She swallowed hard and looked at Margaery, who was as transfixed as she had been. She found it unbelievable that Margaery, of all people, could feel like that with her. 

Before Sansa’s self-esteem issues could mess with her head even more, Margaery left her hands drop to Sansa’s stomach, but before Sansa could complain about the sudden change, Margaery’s mouth resumed what her hands had started and then that was the end for Sansa’s brain. She lost control of her own noises, too, she didn’t know the kind of sounds she was making anymore. A half whimper-half moan came out of her own throat, surprising her. But how could she stop them? Margaery’s lips had caught one of her nipples, and she felt her tongue playing with it, then her teeth and Sansa thought she’d pass out because it was too much. She made another noise, 

“That’s… yeah.” Oh, yes, she was great with words, indeed. 

Sansa thought that it could perfectly be what the heavens looked and felt like, although the experience didn’t last much longer. Margaery’s mouth was coming up again, kissing her chest, her neck… and finally kissing her lips. It was a rather quick peck, could it even be considered a kiss? Sansa used a hand on the back of Margaery’s head to bring her closer again, feeling indignation about not getting more than a lame peck. But everything was forgotten when she realized that what she was feeling were Margaery’s nipples pressing against her chest, good gods! Sansa deepened the kiss because she wanted — no, she needed to get as much as she could from Margaery. She was pretty sure that they both felt the same, since Margaery slid one of her legs between Sansa’s, and Sansa found herself moving against it. Her hips had a mind of her own, she discovered. Their breath had become more laboured and heavy, they were almost panting, again she found herself thinking that it wasn’t enough. 

She had expected to feel kind of awkward about that part, because it was Margaery after all. Her best friend. But somehow, there was nothing weird about it. Her best friend was then sliding her hand between her pants and her underwear… so what? The only thing that she could think of was “she better not stop now”. Sansa let out a loud sigh, there was still a layer between Margaery’s fingers and her own skin… but her feelings were so intense that she couldn’t even begin to imagine and process how it’d be when there wouldn’t be anything between them. 

“Off with them.” Margaery whispered when she started pulling at the hem of Sansa’s pants, almost angrily. And Sansa understood her, she wanted them gone too. 

“Yours too.” Sansa would have considered that bold, but in that moment she just… she wasn’t thinking rationally, she was just feeling. 

Both girls were quick discarding the rest of their clothes, they both felt the urgency of the instant. Sansa bit her lip while she stared at how Margaery’s cheeks looked flushed, and how she was breathing through her mouth. And then she… she smiled shyly when she was presented with Margaery’s whole naked body. It was such a sight. She felt like she wasn’t worth it. Like she was in front of a deity that mere mortals weren’t supposed to stare at and yet… she was stealing glances. 

“Margaery…” She didn’t say her name, she breathed it. 

“Sansa…” 

It was then when she was able to stop looking at all that new skin, when she saw Margaery’s face, that she understood that the feeling was mutual, no matter how strange it felt to Sansa (and it felt really, really surreal). She knew that Margaery was a more decisive person. She knew that she didn’t get nervous about many things, she had a really great self esteem and she knew what she was capable of. Still, in that moment, Sansa could see that her hands were trembling just slightly. Maybe more out of excitement than about being nervous, still… she saw her gulp before her hands started caressing her hips and then her back and…

Margaery hummed appreciatively. “I’m going to channel my inner Sansa and say… wow, I’m touching a girl’s butt!” 

Sansa chuckled and rolled her eyes. She was endearing, and somehow the exchange made Sansa feel less anxious about _being_ anxious (yes, she realized how messed up that was). She pulled Margaery closer again, they stumbled and fell on the bed, exchanging kisses as soon as they landed. Sansa did her best, because she might not know many things, but she knew how to kiss Margaery to get _those_ amazing sounds out of her. 

Soon kissing wasn’t enough. Not anymore. Margaery was the one who pulled away at last, then she stared at Sansa intently, as if she was asking for permission. Sansa just bit her lip an tried to control her breathing. She wondered what would happen next. How would she feel? How would Margaery feel? After all the things that she had just experienced in the last minutes… she would be lying if she said that she didn’t have high hopes for the rest of the evening. 

She took a mental picture the moment Margaery started to kiss her way down her chest, hoping that she would never, ever, forget it. She wriggled a bit when Margaery brushed her lips over her stomach tickling her. Margaery, realizing what had just happened (and being the person she was) smiled devilishly before she used her hands to properly tickle her sides. 

Sansa shrieked. “Not cool! 

“Okay, I’ll play nice…” 

Margaery’s lips started to kiss the inside part of her thigh and Sansa lost any words she might have wanted to say. Her brain was hardly functional and still, Sansa tried to command it not to let her close her eyes, not yet. She wanted to be able to focus on what was happening, she’d let go in a moment, but… she just wanted to see. Margaery… gods, she was so close yet so far from where she needed her to be! 

“Marg…”

The girl hummed, questioningly. Her blue eyes finding Sansa’s. 

“Please.” Sansa whispered, hoping that it’d be enough explanation. 

Such a sight. She wouldn’t have been able to describe how it felt to see Margaery’s head between her legs, planting kisses on her thighs and… and then, listening to Sansa’s pleads, she wasn’t kissing her thigh anymore (Sansa would blush terribly if she thought about what Margaery was doing in more accurate terms). She let out a mix between a moan and a whimper and hissed something that sounded like a “yessss”. Or maybe it had been something else. She wasn’t that sure anymore, not even of the things she was saying. Damn. The girl did know how to do everything perfectly! That was her last coherent thought. Sansa grabbed the sheets, she needed to hold onto something. Why? She didn’t know. She didn’t question it. Things more important than finding out why she needed that were happening right there. 

Her eyes finally closed against her will, after a long struggle, she lost the battle. No matter how much she wanted to look at the scene that was happening in front of her (or well, between her legs), she just couldn’t keep them open. With every flick of Margaery’s tongue, Sansa became more and more overwhelmed with feelings, and it seemed like everything was getting so intense that she couldn’t even breathe properly. She knew that she wouldn’t last long despite of how much she’d like to enjoy that feeling for a little bit more (or forever). How. How could it feel so good? Maybe the thing about girls being better at sex with other girls was true, after all… who would know better what worked and what didn’t than another girl? _Shut up!_

Margaery stopped abruptly. “What?” 

Sansa’s eyes opened and she flinched when they had to adjust to all that light in the room. “What _what_?” 

“Did you just tell me to shut up?” 

Oh gods. Didn’t she just think that? Oh gods! 

“I…” How to explain that her brain wouldn’t shut up without being extra awkward? “Not to you, I —I… Don’t stop.” 

Sansa half laughed, although she wasn’t really joking. She couldn’t have Margaery stopping now. She needed the release, she… she almost used her hands to push Margaery’s head down to finish what she had started. But that’d be too much, wouldn’t it?

“Bossy much?” Margaery kissed her thigh again. 

Don’t kiss there! Sansa thought, outraged. 

“I like it.” Her amused tone made Sansa growl, and just when was about to say something witty as a reply… fuck. 

Margaery’s mouth went back _there_ (really, Sansa needed to work on naming certain body parts… she was almost an adult now!) and there was no time for being a smartass. She just tried to get some air into her lungs while her grip on the sheets got even tighter. Breathing was seriously challenging. How did she spend all those years, previous to that moment, breathing so easily without even realizing how big of a deal it was? Crazy! As her breath was becoming even more and more laboured, Margaery’s tongue kept doing amazing things, her hands holding Sansa’s hips to keep her from moving too much (she couldn’t help it, though). And suddenly, a random stroke of Margaery’s tongue (why that one?) made Sansa climax, at last. Or too soon, who knew anymore? Time had stopped making any sense to her. Her muscles clenched, and so did her legs, trapping Margaery’s head between them (really, she wouldn’t mind keeping her there forever) and Sansa released a low moan as her orgasm went on, causing every part of her body to spasm. There were no fireworks, no epic music playing or anything… it was better than that. It was better because after a few seconds, when she could open her eyes, she was able to look at Margaery, who was resting her head on Sansa’s thigh, caressing her skin and, when her eyes found Sansa’s, she smiled and licked her bottom lip. Gods, she made everything look sexy. 

“Wow.” Sansa let out a content sigh, her eyes wanted to close again, but she refused. She needed to stay in that moment. She chuckled or tried to, it took too much strength, and made Margaery come back up. Cuddled against her naked body, she inhaled deeply. Margaery kissed her cheek, and her nose, and her forehead and her lips and… Sansa was shocked to find out that she could taste herself. Even in her sated state she found that a really, _really_ big turn on. Who would have known? Sansa hummed and nuzzled Margaery’s neck. 

“Now I definitely don’t want two bedrooms in the apartment…” Sansa said, nipping on Margaery’s shoulder. “I want more of this. Like, every day. Every hour.” 

“Trust me,” Margaery grinned from ear to ear. “I’d never want this to be a one time thing.” 

“I’ve…” Sansa felt herself flush. Fuck that, she thought even though she didn’t like cursing. “I’ve never felt so much.”

“You make the sexiest noises, Sans.” Margaery said, nonchalantly. “It was so hard to focus sometimes…” 

Sansa had her eyes closed, a lazy smile on her face. She couldn’t imagine how any sounds that came out of her could be sexy, but she’d have to trust Margaery, who had no reason to lie about something like that… right? 

Margaery’s hand started to caress her side and that made something switch on Sansa’s brain. She opened her eyes instantly. Margaery, who was lying by her side, completely pressed against her body and also completely and beautifully naked, looked curiously at her. Sansa’s lazy smile turned into a mischievous one. 

The thing was, she had been brought up with the idea that people should give back to the world, not to take everything for granted nor keep everything they gained. Do something for others and not just for yourself, that’s what her parents told her and her siblings. Sansa laughed to herself, they would be so proud of her. 

When she disentangled herself from Margaery’s body and pinned her hands against the bed, straddling her hips, she almost shivered in excitement thinking about what she was about to do. Oh, she was going to give back alright. 

Of course, maybe her parents didn’t have _that_ idea of what giving back meant when they taught them that. Just maybe. 

Hopefully.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hi! I can't believe my last update was in October. I'm so, so, soooo sorry about this. I never abandoned the fic, it was just... writer's block, I guess. I didn't know how to write what I wanted to write and it gave me a lot of headaches. Changing the rating... ugh! Lots of troubles :) 
> 
> But anyway, if you're still reading this... thanks for being patient! And although I can't make any promises, I do think that the next update will be up sooner than this one.


	13. Author's note

I never thought I’d be writing an update like this, but… here it goes. My laptop died on me last week. It had happened last year too, so I was kind of hopeful that it’d be nothing. Turns out, this time the hard drive can’t be saved. As I said, I didn’t expect this to happen so… foolishly, I didn’t have anything uploaded anywhere, I don’t have copies of it and yeah, it’s all gone, both fanfics and original writing. I guess there’s a valuable lesson here: Always make backup copies. 

Anyway, I just want to apologize because I won’t be updating soon. I need to get a new laptop and, most importantly, I need the strength to rewrite everything. Right now I’m devastated and still trying to accept what happened. Sorry, guys!


	14. I feel it everywhere

Slowly, Sansa started to wake up. She didn’t open her eyes right away, no, that’d come later. She just wanted to enjoy the feeling for a little bit more before reality demanded its attention. And, why not, she could use a few moments to replay everything that had happened the night before. The thought made her smile, no… not smile, she was beaming. She had been awake for less than a minute and she was already feeling that happy. Ah, it was a promising way to start the new day. 

Despite the warm weather, she felt Margery’s body close to hers. Then she remembered. Margery’s _naked_ body. Now that was something worth opening her eyes for. 

She bit her lip when she saw the other girl, who still slept peacefully. It was so silly, but her cheeks started to hurt because she was smiling so much. Margaery was facing the other way, so obviously Sansa thought that it was the perfect moment to cuddle for a bit. She dragged her fingers along Margaery’s side and rested her hand on her hip while she kissed her jawline, hoping that the other girl would wake up eventually. 

“Hey…” She whispered, close to her ear, as she kept planting little kisses on her cheek. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

Margaery didn’t give any signs of having heard Sansa, but a few seconds after she tossed and turned. Sansa smiled, her work was almost done. 

“Marg…” She nuzzled her neck. She wouldn’t have had a problem letting her girlfriend sleep, but she thought that it was kind of creepy to just lie there staring at her while she was completely unaware of that fact. 

“… Early.” Margaery mumbled. 

That made Sansa realize that she had no idea of what time it was. She grabbed her phone and gasped when she saw the numbers. “It’s almost ten!” 

Margaery groaned and whined. “ _Early_!” 

Sansa laughed, she understood why Margaery might have been feeling a bit tired. It wasn’t like they had gotten a full night of sleep, they had used a few of those hours to more pleasing business, so to speak. Again, the thought made her dizzy with happiness. 

“Exhausted from last night?” Sansa asked trying to be seductive, or something. She was sure it came out awkward, but thankfully Margaery was still too sleepy to realize. 

Those words acted as a switch that turned Margaery’s brain back on. She opened her eyes and a wicked smile appeared on her face, nothing like the sleepy version that Sansa had just been looking at. She rolled around, facing Sansa at last, and looked appreciatively at her from head to toe. Sansa rolled her eyes in return, Margaery even licked her lips. She was being too theatrical. 

“Are you kidding me?” Sansa asked, although she was extremely flattered that her naked body could turn a sleepy Margaery into a fully awake person. 

“I apologize in behalf of my brain, it wasn’t properly functioning.” She sounded so solemn that Sansa listened intently. “For a moment I didn’t remember what I was missing by keeping my eyes closed.”

“Uh huh.” 

Margaery purred and scooped closer to Sansa. “Morning, gorgeous.”

Sansa chuckled. “You’re such a flirt.” 

Margaery gasped as she feigned being offended. “My, my… If only you knew how wrong you are.” 

Sansa laughed some more, she was still amazed at how quickly Margaery had woken up. She always got up the moment she woke up, but for a while she was more like a zombie than a person. 

“And why would I be wrong?” Sansa asked, finally. 

The grin on Margaery’s face told Sansa that she had been waiting to be asked that question. “Because flirting would mean that I have no further intentions, other than being silly right now.” 

“And… you do have further intentions?” Sansa smiled coyly. 

“Oh, I do.” 

Margaery was already on top of Sansa even before she had time to laugh at her response. Sansa let herself enjoy that feeling, the novelty of it all. She wasn’t used to feel Margaery’s naked body pressed against her own while she kissed her and caressed her skin and… 

“We need to get going…” Sansa muttered, touching Margaery’s face. “The landlords are waiting for us.” 

“Let them.” 

One of Margaery’s legs positioned strategically between Sansa’s and she moaned at the contact. Margaery knew what she was doing, she moved her leg further. Damn girl.

“Or… maybe we should get going, yes. Do you want to go, Sansa?” She whispered, before she started kissing her collarbone. 

Sansa groaned as a response, the other girl just laughed. Of course, Margaery knew that there was no way that she’d answer with a “yes” unless she was crazy. And she might be crazy about other things, but she wasn’t, she definitely wasn’t, when it came to that. 

Besides, Sansa was all for making the most out of any given situation, and since they had a couple of hours before they would be required to leave the Rose of Highgarden… they might as well put those hours to good use. They could always use a toll road later to get to King’s Landing faster… There was no way that she could stop what Margaery had just initiated. No. Way. 

 

As it always happened whenever she was too excited to get somewhere, the last hours that they had to spend driving before arriving to King’s Landing went by slowly, extremely slowly. They weren’t exactly bored, after all they were together and they always had something to say, but the endless driving did get exhausting in the end. Also, the dry landscape wasn’t alluring at all. 

She discovered things about herself, though, like how Sansa loved to play with Margery’s hair while the other girl drove. She would just lay a hand on her shoulder and start twirling curls around her finger, playing with it until it tickled Margaery. Being able to do that, it felt amazing. Sometimes Sansa couldn’t quite believe how her life had changed, how good everything seemed to be. A part of her was worried that the feeling would wear off soon, or that things would change… but that voice, she she tried to silence it. 

“Look.” Margaery pointed at a sign, dragging Sansa away from her negative thoughts. “We’ll be there in less than an hour.” 

Those words were pure bliss. And when a little more than half an hour later (the traffic was heavy when they were entering the city) Margaery finally parked the car, Sansa felt giddy. They had arrived at last! It was a short walk until they reached their final destination and Sansa looked around the street while Margaery called the landlords. It seemed like a good idea to check out the neighborhood, in case they ended up living there. 

She saw a few stores and one of those little supermarkets, which was always good, but most importantly, she saw what looked like a bakery from afar. She crossed her fingers for it to be true. Lemon cakes, lemon cakes right in front of their place. Was there anything better than that? She’d have to try them, if they got the apartment! 

“He’ll be here in a minute.” Margaery told Sansa, once she finished talking on the phone. “Can’t wait!” 

“Gods, I’m nervous.” Sansa fidgeted with the strap of her bag. “By the way, I think there’s a bakery right there.” 

“Imagine all the lemon cakes.” Margaery said, playing along. 

“Right!?” 

Then someone cleared their voice behind them. “Margaery and Sansa?”

Sansa’s heart skipped a beat. She turned and faced the man who stood there. His expression was a welcoming one, and Sansa smiled nervously as she shook his hand. 

“Thanks for having us here this evening, Mr. Mormont.” Margaery said. “I’m Margaery.” 

“Sansa.” She was too nervous to make a proper introduction. 

“Call me Jorah, please.” His smile was warm and welcoming, which made Sansa feel more at ease. 

Margaery smiled widely, and if Jorah was anything like her, or like most human beings… he’d be totally at Margaery’s mercy. “We’re not too late, I hope?” 

“Not at all. Besides, my own apartment is in one of those buildings over there.” He pointed at the other side of the street. “It’s no problem, honestly.” 

He opened the door and let them in, first. While on the elevator, he asked about the drive and he was amazed by the fact that they had decided to go by car instead of using any of the other (more comfortable, in his opinion) ways of traveling. Margaery agreed with him partially, but she added that it wouldn’t have been nearly as fun. 

“Here we are.” He stopped in front of a red door, one that had a silver 13 above the peephole. 

The excitement filled every fiber of Sansa’s body and when she looked at Margaery she was grinning as well. It was happening! 

The flat was amazing, Sansa couldn’t find a better way to describe it. The pictures they had seen were gorgeous, but seeing it in person was a completely different experience. The light, the smell, the colors… it was so easy for Sansa to picture themselves living there. 

There were two bedrooms, which wasn’t a requirement anymore but… it was still nice, two bathrooms (that’d come in handy), a living room with a great couch and a matching armchair, and the best part, besides the high ceilings? (Sansa really loved those) Sliding doors that led to a pretty decent sized balcony, which for the time being only had a few plants and a table with three wooden chairs around. 

Sansa was already in love of the apartment by the time that Jorah showed them the kitchen, the most modern-looking part of the apartment, by far. It was decorated in white, black and red. He explained that he had remodeled the apartment last year because although it wasn’t too old, he disliked liked the layout and the kitchen was terrible. He wanted a flat where he’d like to live himself, that was his motto. Sansa respected that, and silently thanked him.

“How come it hasn’t been rented yet?” Sansa asked, nonchalantly. It was weird, being such a nice flat and everything. 

He chuckled. “Margaery promised me that I wouldn’t find better tenants than you two, I had to see for myself.”

Sansa grinned at Margaery, it didn’t surprise her that her girlfriend had managed to convince this man over the phone to wait before he rented it to someone else. She’d have to thank her later, too. 

Not long afterwards, they waved goodbye at Jorah and walked outside the apartment. It was a good thing that he decided to stay there because the moment that they got on the elevator and the doors closed, Sansa started to squee as she threw herself at Margaery’s arms. 

“We got it! We got it!”

“We’re _awesome_!” Margaery grabbed her face and gave her a loud kiss. “Gods, I love this already!” 

Sansa kissed her, again, and then they stumbled against the elevator’s mirror. She dragged her tongue across Margaery’s lip and before they could do much more, the elevator bell rang. Their new apartment (gods, that sounded strange and so great!) was on the fifth floor, not a lot of time to make out. 

Sansa and Margaery both pulled away from each other when they realized, a little too late, that there were two women waiting for the elevator. By the look on their faces, they saw more than was strictly necessary. 

“Good evening.” Margaery said, solemnly. 

The two women replied in the same way and Sansa hoped that her cheeks wouldn’t burst into flames, she was _that_ embarrassed. She got out of the building not knowing whether she wanted to cry or to laugh. So in the end, she chose to laugh, after all, they had just found an apartment for a year! 

“Worst way of meeting the neighbors? Check!” Sansa shook her head. 

“We made an impression, that’s for sure.” 

Sansa took a deep breath. The happiness she felt trumped the embarrassment, so at least that was good. Their very own apartment! She couldn’t stop thinking about it. 

“I can’t believe it. And he’s so nice, isn’t he?” 

“You must tell me how you convinced him to wait!” Sansa laughed. “I don’t know what it was, but thank you, thank you!” 

She hugged Margaery and kissed her cheek. “You’re the best. Oh, and by the way, I have something to tell you.” 

“Oh gods!” Margaery pretended to be scared and Sansa rolled her eyes as she kissed her again (she couldn’t stop doing that!) 

“Jeyne knows we’re here and she offered us her place to stay for the night, or nights.”

“Ah, that’s cool.” 

“I mean, I know you two aren’t exactly best friends or anything…” Sansa rambled, never meeting Margaery’s eyes. “But we’d be saving money and at the same time, I’d be able to—“ 

“Sansa, stop.” Margaery put her hands on Sansa’s shoulders and smiled gently. “I’m already convinced. She’s your friend, you want to meet her… that’s all I need to know.” 

“You’re too good to be true.” 

“And you’re way too biased.” 

She was. And she loved it. 

 

When Sansa saw Jeyne waiting for them in front of the café, she let out a high pitched squee and ran towards her, leaving Margaery behind. The two friends hugged each other while laughing and being kind of silly, but who cared? They hadn’t seen each other in such a long time… it was only natural! 

Margaery let them have a moment for themselves before she went and said hi to Sansa’s friend. 

“Did you like the apartment?” 

“It was amazing, Jeyne!” Sansa’s eyes gleamed at the thought. “And we got it! I can’t wait for you to see it, nothing like my old dorm room.” 

“Well, any apartment would be better than your old dorm room, Sans.” 

They talked about their new place until Jeyne gestured towards the tables. It was a good time to get something to eat, an early dinner, and they loved that place. It was the café where Jeyne and she studied when they didn’t need to be in complete silence. They had been there so many times working that Sansa felt kind of guilty for being there without her books and her laptop. Leave it to her, to stress over summer break for not studying. 

“What’s good here?” Margaery asked. She had only been there with Sansa a couple of times, so naturally she didn’t know the menu by heart unlike the two friends. 

“I’m having a club sandwich. Do you want to order something else and split?” 

Margaery nodded. “Sure, are the burgers any good here?” 

“They’re delish.” Jeyne said, laughing. 

“Who says delish, J?” Sansa rolled her eyes. “But yes, they’re really good.” 

Once they all had decided what to eat and since the waiter was ignoring them, Margaery offered to go order. Sansa felt her love for the girl growing even more, how could that be even possible? 

And then… It happened fast. The funny part was that Sansa wasn’t aware of anything until she saw Margaery’s startled face. And then it sinked it. When Margaery got up to order their food, Sansa had taken her hand as she pulled her in to give her a quick kiss. Nothing out of the ordinary, she had been doing that a lot lately… except for the fact that Jeyne had no idea, none at all, of what had happened between them that summer. 

Sansa turned to her friend who was looking at the them with her eyes so wide that she looked like a comic book character, she was gaping, too. The perfect picture of surprise. 

“Okay. So I’ll… I’ll get going, alright?” Margaery stood and stared at Sansa, waiting for any kind of signal that would indicate that she wanted her to stay (or not).

Sansa gave her a subtle nod and sent her on her way. She had something to take care of. When she turned to look at Jeyne she wondered how the conversation would go. Her friend didn’t look like she didn’t approve, she looked just surprised. And Sansa could deal with surprise. 

“What. The…!” 

Sansa winced. “Okay, let me explain.” 

“How and when did _that_ happen!?” Jeyne was doing that kind of yelling that was quiet at the same time and wow, her voice was high. Soon glasses and windows would start to crack. “And how come this is the first thing I know?! Oh my gods, Sansa!” 

Jeyne made a little ball out of a napkin and threw it on her face. 

Sansa laughed. “Let me talk!” 

“I’m not sure I should, you’re a terrible friend! Why would you keep this from me the whole summer!?” 

“First of all, I resent the terrible friend part.” Sansa was already relieved of how the conversation was turning out to be. “Second of all, it wasn’t the whole summer!” 

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t know… Because you didn’t tell me!” Jeyne smacked her on the arm and Sansa gasped. 

“And yet you won’t let me tell you anything now!” 

“… Fine.” 

“ _Fine_.” 

And that’s how Sansa came clean about her relationship with Margaery. Whether it was a coming out story or not, she wasn’t sure. The only thing that she cared about was that she loved Margaery (although neither Margaery nor her friend knew that piece of information), everything else was okay. 

“How did your parents take it?” 

“Oh, you know.” Sansa shrugged and smiled. “They were cool about it. I mean, they liked her before… she’s quite charming, even though you don’t know her that much.” 

Jeyne looked around and, when she felt safe enough, she got closer to Sansa and started to whisper. “I’m going to confess something now.” 

“Oh gods.” 

“I’m kind of relieved now.” 

Relieved? Of all the things that her friend could have said… she wasn’t expecting her to be... _relieved_. She frowned in confusion, which amused Jeyne. 

“It’s just… I was kind of jealous, you know? You got all giddy and stuff whenever you talked about something related to Margaery… so I couldn’t help to think that she was a better friend for you than I was.” Jeyne shrugged. “Kind of happy it’s just because you’re gay for her.” 

“Oh my gods! That’s adorable.” 

“Shut up!” Jeyne glared at Sansa, who giggled. Then she looked up and smiled. “Your girlfriend’s coming.” 

When Margaery sat down the conversation topic changed, Sansa wasn’t comfortable gossiping to one of her best friends about her new girlfriend with said girlfriend sitting right there. No, she’d leave that for later. They’d sure have time. 

 

Jeyne had suggested a place to go to have a few drinks after dinner, but Sansa and Margaery politely refused, the trip had been long and they wanted to go to sleep early (Sansa was happy that they had the trip excuse). That’s why they ended up on Jeyne’s place, watching tv and eating popcorn, although neither of them was really hungry. 

After the show they were watching ended, Sansa and Jeyne’s opportunity to catch up arrived. Margaery asked if she could take a shower, and obviously the answer was yes, so the two friends sat on the same couch and started giggling when they looked at each other. 

“We look like teenagers talking about crushes.” 

“Isn’t that what we’re doing and what we are?” 

“I consider myself a new adult, please.” Sansa said, doing her best posh impression. 

“Shush now. I have questions. How did it all start?” 

Sansa grinned, thinking back on their first kiss. It was a strange sensation, because back when it had happened she had been filled with anxiety and that had changed since. She remembered it dearly, maybe because everything turned out to be okay. Probably because of that. 

“Basically, it started like a fun and normal summer until I started worrying that she was crushing into one of my brothers.” 

“Be more cliché, I dare you.” 

Sansa rolled her eyes. “I went through the whole denial process where I got really angry at the world and I stopped talking to her after a party and… I was very dramatic, I’ll let you know.” 

“See? Teenagers.” 

They kept talking and laughing, and Sansa felt _so_ good because she had missed that, she had missed talking to her friend about crushes and stuff, and now that she finally had someone that she could talk about, well, it was extra nice. 

 

After Jeyne went to bed, something that happened not long after Margaery came back from her shower, Sansa and Margaery arranged the pull out bed, because even though Jeyne had insisted that she wanted to do it herself, they had repeated over and over again that the least they could do was to fix their own bed for the night. It was only polite, after all. Jeyne had agreed after struggling for a while. Sansa said goodnight with a hug and Jeyne winked an eye at her. Whatever that meant. 

Later, Sansa was lying on the bed checking Facebook and Twitter when she realized how great it felt to be next to Margaery. Maybe they weren’t doing anything together, but they _were_ together, sharing a bed, being close to each other… it was just a really nice feeling. It meant something, because they had always been comfortable around each other, but this was different, it was… better. It made it all worthy. 

She texted her family, letting them all now that their new flat was amazing (and she let her parents know that the contract was good and that she’d show it to them as soon as she was back). Right after she had done that she got a text from Jon, but not in the family group they had, no, a private one. 

_Hey! Now that you’re here… I’ve got a question. What am I supposed to do if a girl asks me out!?_

Sansa looked at her phone a bit dumbfounded, she couldn’t quite believe that he had just sent her that text. She put the phone in front of Margaery, who stopped playing Dots for a second to look at what Sansa was sharing. 

She snorted. “Is he kidding?”

“Doubt it.” Sansa said, earnestly. 

“Oh gods.” 

Sansa started typing a response. 

_Are you asking me because the girl asked you, and not the other way around? Please tell me you’re not. Please. PLEASE._

_Uh…_

_JON!!!! What world do you think we live in? Are we in the medieval ages? Gods!!!_

_Come onnnn! I just wanted advice & help! _

_You’re dumb!_

_Show some respect, little sister_

Margaery locked her phone and put it away, probably thinking that Sansa’s exchange with her brother was a much more interesting event than the game. 

“Ask him if she likes the girl, because that’s the only thing that should matter.” She said, cuddling next to Sansa in order to get a better view on the screen. 

_Marg asks if you like the girl & how that should be the only concern of yours. _

“You know, it’s kind of difficult to write with just one hand.” Sansa commented, pressing send. 

“Is that your subtle way of telling me to go away?” 

“Idiot.” She kissed her forehead. 

_I think I do like her. She’s great… funny and feisty! Lol_

Margaery made an “aww” when she read the new message. “He’s adorable even when he’s behaving like a guy from the past, oh my gods.”

Sansa glared at her girlfriend. “See, this is why I thought you liked him.” 

Margaery arched an eyebrow, visibly amused. “Come on! You weren’t even sure which one of your brothers I supposedly liked!”

Sansa opened her mouth to argue, but she couldn’t. Margaery was right, she hadn’t had a clue back then. She had thought of her own brothers as a pack when it came to Margaery’s alleged crush on them. 

Then, without a warning, Margaery took the phone from her hands and started to type. Sansa loved seeing how awkward Margaery was when she wasn’t using her own phone, fumbling with words, autocorrect, and not knowing exactly where each key was. She was so adorable that she had to kiss her again. It was becoming an issue. 

_Jon, Margaery speaking! If you like the girl say yes and go out with her. Enjoy the date and just wait to see what happens next. PS: She might kiss you first! Don’t freak out! Lol_

Sansa laughed as she read the text. “Can you imagine? He’d get a brain aneurysm or something if she kissed him on the first date!” 

“Poor Jon…” 

_What do you know about Ygritte?_

“Wow! I did not see this coming!” Margaery gasped. “Ygritte’s a friend of Loras, she was in our party. And she is funny. And feisty. Maybe too feisty for your polite and gentleman-like brother.” 

_She’s awesome. Both of you would be lucky to have each other ;)_

Margaery sent the text and returned the phone to its owner, visibly proud of her own intervention. 

Sansa hummed. “Maybe this girl’s exactly what Jon needs to stop being so awkward and nerdy?” 

Margaery snorted. “Do you even hear yourself? You’re awkward and nerdy.” 

Sansa gasped as she feigned offense. “Am not.” 

“Are too!” 

Margaery grabbed her chin and leaned in to kiss her, softly at first… but then she shifted her position on the bed and pushed Sansa against the mattress. When she kissed her back, she did it more enthusiastically. 

“Am not.” Sansa muttered between kisses. Margaery answered by playfully biting her neck. 

Sansa’s phone chimed again, but she was too busy getting her hands under Margaery’s shirt to notice. 

“Hey, Stark.” She could _hear_ the smile on Margaery’s words. “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“What does it look like I’m doing?” 

“If I didn’t know any better, since we’re staying at your friend’s place and all that… I would say that you’re trying to get to have your wicked ways with me.” 

Sansa laughed softly as she switched positions. She ended up straddling Margaery, whose curls sprawled on the pillow. Sansa took her all in, she looked like one of those girls from a classic painting, with her rosy cheeks and her full lips after all that kissing. She looked so gorgeous, Sansa bit her lip as she put her hair up in a ponytail. If she was going to be on top (and she planned to be, at least for a while) she didn’t want her hair to get in the way. 

Also, she believed that accuracy was important, and if Margaery had to be one of those girls in the classical paintings, at least in her mind, the clothes were definitely not needed. She’d need to do something about it, and sooner rather than later. 

“Sansa?” Margaery arched an eyebrow as she waited for a response. 

She smirked. “Oh, no. I’d never dare to do such a thing!” 

But actions, after all, speak louder than words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! New laptop, "new" fic. I'm still not over the loss, but I was happy that the ideas kept coming back. 
> 
> Anyway, here you go! And thanks for the comments in the previous entry, I already told you, but they meant a lot *hugs*


End file.
